Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man who allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, previously served in one of Afghanistan’s elite counterterrorism units, AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by U.S. veterans and others who served in Afghanistan, says. The unit, NDS-03, operated at the direction of the CIA with direct U.S. intelligence and military support and fought the Taliban on behalf of the U.S. government, according to AfghanEvac.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the shooter, who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2021, was admitted into the United States “due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA.” AfghanEvac said Lakanwal is likely to have been vetted multiple times during his journey to the United States.
Lakanwal was evacuated by the U.S. military in August 2021 following the fall of Kabul. He arrived in the U.S. under humanitarian parole, the temporary authority used to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghans on special immigrant visas and others who worked with the U.S. and were at risk from the Taliban. He applied for asylum during the Biden years and, the group said, was granted asylum in April 2025.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Lakanwal’s involvement with U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan will be a central focus of the investigation. “This subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces,” Patel said, adding investigators are looking into his background and any known associates overseas or in the United States. Patel also said, without providing evidence, that Lakanwal was allowed into the U.S. by the Biden administration without proper vetting, blaming “the failure to vet any way, in any way, shape or form, this individual and countless others.”
Lakanwal had an active special immigrant visa (SIV) application underway; he had received chief of mission approval, a required step for the SIV, but had not yet been granted lawful permanent residence. AfghanEvac noted that chief of mission approval and asylum applications would have required review and vetting by the U.S. government, including the CIA.
In an interview with NPR, AfghanEvac founder and Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver said it’s premature to say whether Lakanwal warranted more scrutiny. “We don’t know yet. If there was a vetting failure, we’ve got to fix it, but we can’t paint with a broad brush this entire community, right? The vast majority of Afghans who have come here are just good upstanding citizens,” VanDiver said.
Vetting for asylum includes identity and background checks, biometric vetting, in-person interviews, and an assessment of individualized risk and eligibility under U.S. law. Those granted asylum can apply for a green card after one year. AfghanEvac said in a statement that “this violent act does not reflect the Afghan community, which continues to contribute across the United States and undergoes some of the most extensive vetting of any immigrant population.”