An Afghan national shot and killed one member of the West Virginia National Guard on the streets of Washington, D.C., and grievously wounded another.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was reportedly part of a “Zero Unit,” an Afghan paramilitary force that worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan. He came to the United States after the Taliban takeover during the rush to get out Afghans who’d helped us and was granted asylum this past April.
There’s much about his story (a childhood friend says he’s had mental health issues), his motive, and the circumstances of his arrival here still to learn. What’s obvious is that this was a heinous crime and, if intended to strike a political blow against President Trump’s Guard deployments, an act of terrorism.
Those deployments have been controversial and legally contested, but they haven’t — as the most feverish critics maintain — heralded the advent of fascism in America. The young men and women in the Guard aren’t brownshirts or stormtroopers, but patriots fulfilling their duty. The debate about the deployments would be healthier if Trump’s enemies would acknowledge as much (and also, it should be added, if Trump didn’t portray the Guard as cracking down on cities, when they have no law enforcement function and mostly serve to provide a visible symbol of security).
The administration says, understandably, it will review green card holders from 19 nations “of concern” that were set out in Trump’s travel ban back in June, which included Afghanistan. It also says it will examine all grants of asylum by the Biden administration (although, as noted, this one was granted under Trump). On Truth Social, Trump has gone further, floating a total pause of immigration from third world countries and touting the need for “REVERSE MIGRATION.”
There was a good case for special consideration for Afghans who risked their lives in aiding our cause in the war, but immigration restrictionists complained about the near-impossibility of adequate vetting at the time. Depending on the facts — was there information that should have excluded him? did he radicalize while in the United States? — Lakanwal may vindicate their warnings.
What we know for certain is that two young people were shot in the prime of their lives wearing their nation’s uniforms within blocks of the White House, in another gut-wrenching day for the country.