Thanksgiving eve turned tragic in Washington, D.C., when a suspected Afghan terrorist launched a deadly ambush near the White House, exposing a catastrophic failure in immigration vetting under the previous administration.
A 29-year-old Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, stands accused of fatally shooting National Guardswoman Sarah Beckstrom and critically injuring Guardsman Andrew Wolfe in a horrifying attack just blocks from the White House, while intelligence officials point to the Biden administration’s lax vetting policies during the 2021 Afghan withdrawal as the root cause, as the New York Post reports.
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in September 2021 through "Operation Allies Welcome," a Biden-era program that resettled nearly 80,000 Afghans who had opposed the Taliban.
Before coming to America, Lakanwal was part of the Kandahar Strike Force, a CIA-backed paramilitary group with a dark reputation for alleged civilian abuses, often labeled a "death squad."
After resettling in Bellingham, Washington, with his family, he worked as an Amazon Flex delivery driver, applied for asylum in December 2024, and saw it granted by April 2025.
A friend told the New York Times that Lakanwal battled mental health issues from his combat days in Afghanistan, particularly struggling with the sight of blood and carnage.
On Thanksgiving eve, Lakanwal allegedly struck, firing four shots from a revolver at Beckstrom and Wolfe, National Guard members from West Virginia deployed to D.C. for a federal crime crackdown.
Beckstrom fell first and tragically succumbed to her injuries the next day at a local hospital, while Lakanwal seized her rifle to shoot Wolfe, leaving him in critical condition.
The rampage ended when another Guardsman heroically tackled Lakanwal during a reload, subduing him with repeated stabs to the head using a pocket knife after a fierce exchange of gunfire with other troops.
Top security officials have lambasted the Biden administration’s vetting process during the chaotic 2021 Kabul withdrawal, with a 2022 Homeland Security inspector general report revealing that critical data was often missing to properly screen Afghan evacuees.
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, didn’t mince words, stating, “During Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, his administration negligently used the vetting standard described above as the standard for being brought directly into the U.S.”
Kent’s critique cuts deep. Tens of thousands, including Lakanwal, were “paroled in” with no flagged terror ties at the time, yet clearly, the system missed something deadly, raising questions about who else slipped through.
Chad Robichaux, a former Force Recon Marine, echoed the outrage, saying, “Zero vetting for tens of thousands of Afghans flown out of Kabul in the final days of the withdrawal.”
Robichaux’s warning about unknown identities on those evacuation flights isn’t just alarmist -- it’s a stark reminder that fighting alongside U.S. forces abroad doesn’t automatically qualify someone to live next door without thorough scrutiny.
In response, the Trump administration has halted immigration requests for Afghan nationals indefinitely and ordered a full review of asylum cases greenlit under Biden, alongside a broader examination of green card holders from 19 countries of concern. Intelligence reports of over 85,000 Afghans admitted without rigorous checks, plus millions from other high-risk regions entering with minimal oversight, have fueled this urgent policy shift. While some may cry overreach, it’s hard to argue against tightening the net after a tragedy like this.
