The Trump administration issued a warning after senior intelligence official Joe Kent revealed that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan suspect in the fatal Washington, D.C., shooting, had not been vetted before entering the United States. Kent stated that Lakanwal’s 2021 entry occurred under Biden-era policies that allowed more than two million individuals from Muslim-majority regions to arrive with minimal scrutiny, including roughly 85,000 Afghans rapidly admitted during the Afghanistan withdrawal. He emphasized that Lakanwal had only undergone battlefield vetting to fight the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and ISIS—screening never intended to qualify someone for permanent life in America.
A senior U.S. official confirmed that the evacuation used a “low-standard” vetting process, unlike the lengthy Special Immigrant Visa procedures that previously required extensive interviews. Former national security officials linked the lapse to the chaotic withdrawal, noting that Lakanwal entered the U.S. through Biden’s parole program under Operation Allies Welcome. After settling in Washington state with his family, he applied for and received asylum in April 2025.
According to investigators, Lakanwal ambushed two National Guard members on Thanksgiving Eve, fatally wounding Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically injuring Andrew Wolfe. Officials say he first fired a revolver, then used Beckstrom’s rifle before being subdued. The attack intensified concerns about inadequate vetting during the 2021 evacuation, with some veterans reporting that “zero vetting” occurred for thousands of evacuees.