D.C. Shooting Suspect Was Granted Asylum In April, Rahmanullah Lakanwal Worked With CIA In Afghanistan

28th November 2025 at 1:11 PM

1 minute read

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the US National Guard near the White House, spent years in one of the CIA’s most secretive Afghan combat units, CIA Director confirmed.

New York : Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the US National Guard near the White House, spent years in one of the CIA’s most secretive Afghan combat units, CIA Director confirmed. The Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the US Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement to CBS.

Two former commanders and relatives in Afghanistan told the Associated Press that Lakanwal began his career as a guard in Kandahar, later rose to team leader level and handled GPS tracking for the unit. Lakanwal drove more than 2,500 miles from Bellingham in Washington state to Washington DC before he opened fire on Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, called it an “ambush-style” attack and confirmed that he used a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.

Donald Trump labelled the shooting an “act of terror” and announced that the US would suspend all immigration requests from Afghans. The president said the country “must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden”. Two former commanders and relatives in Afghanistan told the Associated Press that Lakanwal began his career as a guard in Kandahar, later rose to team leader level and handled GPS tracking for the unit. They described him as a “sporty and jolly character”. His entire team was flown to the US after the Taliban seized Kabul.

At a press conference, FBI Director Kash Patel acknowledged Lakanwal’s past work with US partner forces, saying the suspect “had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces” before entering the country.