As RedState has updated, in the wake of Wednesday's terror ambush attack of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, two West Virginia National Guardsmen who were shot blocks from the White House, there is much information is pouring in about the alleged terrorist, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal. RedState reported after the attack that Lakanwal came to the U.S. in September 2021 through former President Joe Biden's Operation Allies Welcome program, which was instituted after Biden's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
Read More: Update: New Details Revealed As Officials Hold Morning Presser on D.C. National Guard Shooting
New: Paper Trail Behind Suspect in D.C. NG Terrorist Attack Points Directly to Joe Biden
Also emerging are video clips from 2021 of then-OH Senator (Now Vice President) JD Vance, former United States Army captain and current assistant to the Secretary of War for public affairs, Sean Parnell, and others, who were highly critical of this program to allow 30,000 unvetted Afghan refugees to enter the United States. This endeavor received overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats, but Vance and Parnell's warnings seem almost prophetic in the wake of this heinous assault on two American soldiers.
Sean Parnell appeared with Tucker Carlson on Fox News in 2021, and talked about his personal experience with Afghan terror, which cost the life of one member of his platoon. An Afghan interpreter, who had been embedded with Parnell's unit for a year, double-crossed them. Parnell said the interpreter "had been with us every step of the way, someone who we thought was our friend."
It is clear that the ideology of jihad does not recognize friendship with infidels. This interpreter embedded with this unit in order to learn their procedures, their strengths, and their weaknesses in order to strike. Parnell later discovered that this interpreter had coordinated with an Iranian IED cell in Pakistan with planting a bomb, and led them over the bomb for it to detonate. Four of Parnell's soldiers were seriously injured, and one was killed.
Parnell said to Carlson:
Just because an Afghan works with us and is friends with us does not actually mean that they're safe to bring here. And this precisely why we cannot bring 30,000 unvetted Afghan refugees to the United States of America. It is an irresponsible policy, and quite frankly, I can't believe we even have to have this conversation. American citizens have to have the — they have to be the priority.
WATCH:
WATCH: Sean Parnell in 2021 arguing against bringing unvetted Afghan "refugees" into America by telling a story about a longtime interpreter in Afghanistan who betrayed his platoon.
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) November 27, 2025
People forget that this was a lonely and courageous position to take in 2021. Countless… pic.twitter.com/2yA5FSxNl4
WATCH: Sean Parnell in 2021 arguing against bringing unvetted Afghan "refugees" into America by telling a story about a longtime interpreter in Afghanistan who betrayed his platoon.
People forget that this was a lonely and courageous position to take in 2021.
Countless establishment Republicans in Congress, along with virtually the entire donor class, sided with Biden and supported bringing these people into our country.
I saw firsthand how MAGA Conservatives like @JDVance, @Jim_Banks and @SeanParnellUSA were ruthlessly smeared and attacked by RINOs inside the GOP for opposing it, but they were right all along.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) was one of those Republican legislators who was full-court press for allowing the Afghan refugees to come to America, deeming it the least that we could do for them. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) worked to open up his state for this influx, receiving 10,000 of the 30,000 Afghan refugees to Texas. But more and more evidence is showing that any form of vetting was cursory or non-existent. So, who knows where these refugees are today? As the investigation into the National Guard attack in D.C. continues, Graham, Cornyn, and others should be questioned about their role in this Biden program.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who planned the 2024 Election Day terrorist attack in Oklahoma, was never properly vetted by the Biden administration. He laid low and plotted to disrupt our electoral process for three years. Now, Rahmanullah Lakanwal is raising the same red flags. As RedState reported, Lakanwal was cleared by the Biden administration because he worked "with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation," CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital.
A New York Times exclusive also asserts that Lakanwal had mental health issues because of the brutality he witnessed as part of this U.S. government work:
The Afghan refugee accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., fought in the late days of the U.S. war there as part of a “Zero Unit,” a paramilitary force that worked with the C.I.A., according to a person briefed on the investigation and an Afghan intelligence officer familiar with the matter. The units were known for their brutality and labeled “death squads” by human rights groups.
The suspect, identified by federal officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, grew up in a village in the eastern province of Khost. A childhood friend, who asked to be identified only as Muhammad because he feared Taliban reprisals, said that Mr. Lakanwal had suffered from mental health issues and was disturbed by the casualties his unit had caused.
“He would tell me and our friends that their military operations were very tough, their job was very difficult, and they were under a lot of pressure,” Muhammad said.
Why would anyone consider this type of person a candidate for U.S. resettlement? The fact that Lakanwal was associated with the CIA also sets off alarm bells. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is one of the Seditious Six and as a CIA analyst, she was extensively involved in the war on terror. In her campaign for Senate, she bragged about her work with the State Department, on the National Security Council, and at the Pentagon. As the FBI seeks to question the Seditious Six about that janky video they recorded a few weeks ago, whether Slotkin had any connection with the supposed vetting of the Afghan refugees—and if she had any connection to Lakanwal specifically—would be a legitimate focal point.
Dive Deeper: UPDATE: Jacqui Heinrich Drops Bombshell New Info on Afghan Migrant Who Planned Election Day Terror Attack
Ratcliffe Reveals Connection National Guard Shooter Had to CIA, 'Other Gov't Entities'
There are still the bigger questions: was Lakanwal given status as a refugee, or did he slip through the cracks, disappearing into society? Are Tawhedi and Lakanwal one-offs, or part of a terror network that is waiting for precise moments in particular cities to activate? Thanks to the Biden administration, records and information on these individuals are sketchy or incomplete, so the FBI will be required to piece together this puzzle. At present, the blame and finger-pointing is obscuring what should be the priority: Finding and removing those 30,000 Afghan refugees from our country.
The Trump administration has pledged to seek justice for the two National Guard members and to re-vet every Afghan refugee. But in light of the damage, it's akin to putting a bandage over a gushing artery.
At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.
— USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow (@USCISJoe) November 27, 2025
As this is a developing story, we'll bring along new updates as more information becomes available.
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