31 minutes ago
Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 02:05 IST
A senior US official said Rahmanullah Lakanwal was screened repeatedly by intelligence agencies and showed no links to terrorism before entering the country.
US officials said Rahmanullah Lakanwal cleared multiple rounds of CIA and NCTC vetting and showed no terror ties before he was allowed into the United States. (IMAGE: X)
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man who shot the two Guards in Washington D.C., was vetted multiple times by US intel agencies like the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) and the US Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
An official told broadcaster CNN on Wednesday that Lakanwal was vetted by the CIA in 2011, through NCTC databases. The official said that he would have been vetted again during Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) in 2021 for any ties to terrorism before he was allowed into the US.
Launched in August 2021, Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) was the Biden administration’s program to bring Afghan evacuees to the US after the Taliban takeover.
The official highlighted that the CIA did its own vetting before he started working with them and kept his identity secret, back in 2011.
The official then said that he was vetted in 2021 as well and at that time also he did not show any ties to terror organizations.
“In terms of vetting, nothing came up," according to a senior US official. “He was clean on all checks."
The official added that the US government has been conducting continuous, annual vetting of Afghan evacuees since their arrival, a policy tightened after authorities foiled an Election-Day terror plot in Oklahoma last year.
In that case, Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi — who entered the US under the post-2021 resettlement programme — was arrested for allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired attack and attempting to acquire weapons. The incident also involved a teenage co-conspirator who was later convicted.
US President Donald Trump, in remarks after the shooting, had said that the man had arrived in the US in 2021 “on those infamous flights", referring to OAW.
“This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror," Trump said, as he vowed to have his administration “reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan" during his predecessor Joe Biden’s presidency.
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se...Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se...
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Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
First Published:
November 28, 2025, 02:05 IST
News world Afghan Man Who Shot Guards Came Up ‘Clean’ In US Intel Checks, Showed No Terror Ties
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