Veterans speak up for Afghans targeted by Trump after DC shooting

Veterans speak up for Afghan allies targeted by Trump after DC shooting. Accused shooter worked for CIA in Afghanistan.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, D.C., has been charged with first-degree murder. President Trump said yesterday that one of the two victims, Spec. Sarah Beckstrom, had died. Trump said the other victim in the shooting, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is “fighting for his life”. Both Beckstrom and Wolfe served in the West Virginia National Guard and were in D.C as part of Trump’s controversial National Guard deployment.

In his Thanksgiving address to soldiers, Trump said that Beckstrom was an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way”.

Lakanwal worked for CIA in Afghanistan

Since the shooting, more information has come to light on the suspect. Lakanwal, 29, entered the US in 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, which offered safe haven in the US to Afghan nationals who had worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan. He was granted asylum status in April 2025 under the Trump administration.

The CIA has confirmed that Lakanwal served with one of the CIA-backed “Zero Units” in Afghanistan. The Zero Units saw some of the toughest fighting of the war, leading deadly raids on members of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Although Zero Unit was accused of war crimes, their members received priority evacuation to the US after the withdrawal.

Few specifics about Lakanwal’s Zero Unit service are known. It appears Lakanwal was recruited into a Zero Unit in 2011, when he would have been around 15 years old. A former military commander told the BBC that Lakanwal was with the units protecting the Kabul airport during the chaotic 2021 US military evacuation of Afghanistan.

No motive for the shooting has yet emerged. Lakanwal was settled in Washington state with his wife and five children. Officials say he drove across the country to target National Guard members in the nation’s capital. Trump said that Lakanwal “went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. It happens too often with these people”.

US veterans defend their Afghan comrades

Following the shooting, Trump vowed greater scrutiny on Afghans who were granted protected status in the US under programs like Allies Welcome. Trump has criticized these programs, claiming that the Biden administration did not properly vet Afghans coming to the US. Today, Trump said he would permanently pause immigration from “third world countries”.

During Trump’s immigration crackdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained numerous Afghans who worked with US troops in Afghanistan. In one high-profile incident, masked ICE agents detained former interpreter Sayed Nasser as he left a San Diego immigration court. Nasser was finally released last month after over 100 days in detention and after being threatened with deportation. Afghans who collaborated with US forces face violent retribution from the Taliban. Before Nasser fled to the US, his brother was murdered by the Taliban.

After Nasser’s original arrest, hundreds of US veterans volunteered to accompany former Afghan allies to immigration proceedings. Veteran-led organizations like #AfghanEvac and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) have helped former Afghan allies travel to the US and settle here. Veterans have also spoken out against the recent termination of temporary protected status for Afghans in the US by the Department of Homeland Security.

Following the incident in D.C. and Trump’s comments, veterans groups are once again showing solidarity with the Afghan community. Shawn VanDiver of #AfghanEvac told the BBC that the person who carried out the shooting “deserves to have full accountability,” but said that “the entire Afghan community shouldn’t suffer because of the actions of this one deranged man”. VanDiver added that Lakanwal was “vetted multiple times by multiple agencies” before and after his arrival in the US. “It was during the Biden administration that he came here, during the withdrawal,” VanDiver said, “but the Trump administration granted him asylum”.