The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members just blocks from the White House previously worked with multiple U.S. government entities, including the CIA, while serving as part of a partner force in Kandahar, according to Fox News.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, allegedly opened fire on two West Virginia National Guardsmen in an ambush-style attack on Wednesday, leaving both men in critical condition. Intelligence officials told Fox News that Lakanwal had a prior working relationship with U.S. agencies during the Afghanistan conflict, including the CIA, due to his role supporting American operations in the region.
Lakanwal entered the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, arriving a month after the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to former CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who spoke with Fox News Digital, the administration justified Lakanwal’s relocation because of his work with U.S. intelligence and security forces.
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” Ratcliffe said. “The individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here.”
Ratcliffe added that Americans “deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s catastrophic failures,” and offered prayers for the injured Guardsmen.
The FBI is now leading the investigation, with multiple senior intelligence sources confirming the shooting is being examined as a potential act of international terrorism. FBI officials said the two Guardsmen remain in critical condition.
In a national address late Wednesday, President Donald Trump condemned the attack as a “savage” and “monstrous ambush-style assault,” calling it “an act of terror” and a “crime against humanity.” He vowed that the attacker would “pay the steepest possible price.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a press conference that the shooting appeared to be a targeted attack on the Guardsmen, and confirmed that the suspect was taken into custody at the scene.
GET THIS…😳😳😳
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the name of the dude who killed two National Guard soldiers today, and was subsequently given asylum status by the Trump Administration actually “served alongside U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan” for 10 YEARS.
Because, OF COURSE he… pic.twitter.com/MY8ZMuxzMc
— The Patriot Voice (@TPV_John) November 27, 2025
Send them back.
You eat what you saw.
He was ok until he was useful…