The Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who killed one National Guard member and critically injured another In Washington D.C., pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges on Tuesday from his hospital bed.
New details from a police affidavit during the proceeding revealed that Lakanwal fired repeatedly at his targets while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Prosecutor Ariel Dean said investigators believe Lakanwal moved through multiple parts of the city before the ambush attack.
Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden administration program that resettled Afghans following the U.S. withdrawal. He applied for asylum under Biden, but the advocacy group #AfghanEvac said his claim was approved after Trump took office.
From Newsweek
Sources who spoke to the Daily Beast have suggested that Lakanwal may have been “blackmailed” by the Taliban to carry out the attack against U.S. military members, and is a lead currently being investigated by the intelligence community.
The Daily Beast intelligence source says investigators are exploring whether Lakanwal was threatened by Taliban operatives who could target his family in Afghanistan if he refused.
The DB reports that the Taliban has a unit known as “Yarmouk 60,” tasked with hunting down Afghans who aided the United States during operations there.
Lakanwal had a wife and five children. He worked alongside US Special Forces as a GPS specialist, had reportedly feared financial ruin in the U.S., and the risk of being sent back to Afghanistan.
According to the DB source, “People in this country have no idea about the level of stress these people are under.”
With a paywall to the Daily Beast, Mediaite is also carrying that story.
Reuters is reporting that the Taliban denies any involvement.
“This incident has nothing to do with the honorable people of Afghanistan or with the Afghan government,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Wednesday. “This is an individual criminal act, and the person who committed it was trained by the Americans themselves.”
There is more about Lakanwal’s service with the elite CIA-trained and backed paramilitary group known as the Zero Units. CBC News provides insight on their missions and the challenges faced by those who are trying to resettle in the U.S. through a Front Burner podcast. Read the transcript here or listen through the YouTube below.