A former CIA-backed Afghan commando accused of gunning down two West Virginia National Guard troops steps from the White House was brought to the United States under a secret 2021 evacuation deal that moved thousands of “Zero Unit” fighters and their families onto American soil, according to internal military records and current and former officials.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a veteran of the National Strike Unit (NSU) tied to the CIA and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, allegedly took part in securing Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport during the chaotic non‑combatant evacuation operation, then arrived in the U.S. with his family in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome.
President Donald Trump called the Thanksgiving‑eve attack “a monstrous, ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House” after 20‑year‑old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and 24‑year‑old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were shot while on high‑visibility patrols in Washington, D.C., as part of the administration’s crime‑reduction push in the capital.
Trump announced Beckstrom’s death from her wounds and said Wolfe remains in critical condition; U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has since moved to upgrade charges, saying Lakanwal will face first‑degree murder.
Just the News reports that a former intelligence officer described a 2021 CIA deal under which Zero Unit forces agreed to secure HKIA during the Biden administration’s rushed withdrawal in exchange for airlifts to the United States for “tens of thousands” of fighters and relatives.
Pentagon after‑action documents show commanders on the ground were initially told to expect roughly 6,000 NSU evacuees, only to learn mid‑operation that the number had ballooned to nearly 38,800, forcing the military to divert seats on outbound aircraft and recommend activating the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to move the load.
Former Director of National Intelligence and ex‑CIA official John Ratcliffe confirmed that the alleged shooter “worked with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” arguing that “the individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here” and warning that Americans are now enduring “the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s catastrophic failures.”
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote on X that the attacker “was ‘vetted’ by the intelligence community” only as a battlefield asset in Afghanistan, not for “his suitability to come to America and live among us,” and said over 85,000 Afghans were rushed into the country under loosened standards during the withdrawal.
Additional reporting and leaked images circulated by CIA alum Sarah Adams indicate Lakanwal carried an ID badge for “NSU 03,” a Kandahar Strike Force element of the Zero Units operating out of Firebase Gecko, a facility long used by CIA and U.S. special operations forces. AfghanEvac, a U.S. advocacy coalition, has reportedly confirmed he served in “Unit 03”, was evacuated by the U.S. military in August 2021, arrived under humanitarian parole, later gained asylum, and had a Special Immigrant Visa case that would have required CIA review.
Lakanwal is now jailed and accused of turning his CIA‑sponsored combat skills on American troops he once nominally served alongside. As of the latest reports, he has not entered a plea on the upgraded murder charge and is “not cooperating with law enforcement,” while his case intensifies scrutiny of the covert deal that quietly resettled thousands of Zero Unit fighters inside the United States.
