A significant number of Afghan nationals who entered the United States following the 2021 military withdrawal have been identified as potential security risks.
This unsettling discovery was unveiled after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided data to Chuck Grassley, the Republican head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to the federal data, DHS reported finding ‘potential derogatory information’ on 6,868 Afghan evacuees who were part of Operation Allies Welcome.
Among those flagged, 5,005 were associated with national security concerns, 956 with public safety issues, and 876 with possible fraud incidents.
Although many of these cases have been addressed, records indicate that as of September, 885 individuals still had unresolved national security flags.
Grassley has consistently pushed federal agencies to address what he describes as ‘glaring red flags’ in the resettlement process that brought over 70,000 evacuees to the United States.
The disclosure comes just days after a deadly shooting near the White House that killed National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded her colleague Andrew Wolfe, 24.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US during the post-withdrawal evacuation.
Thousands of Afghans who entered the United States after the 2021 withdrawal were flagged for potential national security risks, according to figures provided by the DHS. Pictured, about 650 Afghans are seen fleeing Kabul aboard an Air Force plane in August 2021
The disclosure comes just days after a deadly shooting near the White House that killed National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Andrew Wolfe, 24
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US during the post-withdrawal evacuation
Following the attack, Donald Trump ordered an immediate review of vetting procedures for migrants from high-risk countries and moved to halt asylum decisions and pause the issuing of visas for Afghan passport holders as federal authorities reassess screening standards.
Grassley received the new figures from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a September 9 letter from DHS after formally requesting updated risk assessments.
The letter came just days after the department’s own Inspector General confirmed that DHS ‘encountered obstacles to screen, vet and inspect all evacuees.’
The newly released numbers place the Afghan resettlement program back at the center of a national security debate that has intensified sharply following the attack in Washington.
‘I spent years calling attention to the weak vetting standards in Operation Allies Welcome, despite considerable pushback from the Biden administration and many of my colleagues in Congress,’ Grassley told The New York Post.
‘Sadly, this past week’s tragedy in Washington only validates my concerns further. I appreciate the Trump administration’s efforts to respond to my oversight and restore order in the wake of the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the chaos that followed.’
Another DHS Inspector General report found the department had a ‘fragmented process’ for handling potential security threats inside the program.
The Justice Department’s own Inspector General added to the alarm in June, revealing that 55 individuals on a terror watch list still successfully reached US ports of entry as of May 2023 – some of whom were added to the list while the Afghan evacuation was actively unfolding.
Both Beckstrom and Wolfe had been deployed as part of Donald Trump’s flagship crime-fighting mission in Washington
The federal data showing 6,868 Afghans entering the US had ‘potential derogatory information’ was provided to Chuck Grassley, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee
‘According to the FBI, the need to immediately evacuate Afghans overtook the normal processes required to determine whether individuals attempting to enter the United States pose a threat to national security, which increased the risk that bad actors could try to exploit the expedited evacuation,’ the inspector general wrote in its findings.
Even as that report was being compiled, federal prosecutors were charging two Afghan nationals, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi and Abdullah Haji Zada, with plotting an ISIS-inspired attack to disrupt the 2024 election in Oklahoma City.
Tawhedi, who entered the US in 2021 on a Special Immigrant Visa and later acquired two AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, pleaded guilty in June to providing material support to ISIS and now faces up to 35 years in prison. Zada, 19, received a 15-year sentence.
The newly released figures have been brought into focus following Wednesday’s ambush near the White House.
Both Beckstrom and Wolfe had been deployed as part of Donald Trump’s flagship crime-fighting mission in Washington.
Suspect, Lakanwal, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, according to the office of Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in the capital.
Trump called the shooting a ‘terrorist attack’ and accused the Biden administration of enabling the killer’s entry into the country.
Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, applied for asylum during the Biden administration, and was granted asylum this year under Trump, according to #AfghanEvac.
Following Beckstrom’s killing, Trump ordered 500 additional National Guard members into the capital
A couple pause at a makeshift memorial of flags and flowers outside of the Farragut West Station, near the site where two National Guard members were shot in Washington DC
He had lived in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children.
A former landlord said he recently ‘disappeared’ while a neighbor said he was quiet and struggled to find work.
Federal officials confirmed that Lakanwal worked alongside the CIA in Afghanistan, serving in a CIA-backed ‘Zero Unit’ in Kandahar. A relative said he began as a security guard in 2012 and later became a team leader and GPS specialist.
The Trump administration halted all asylum decisions and paused visa issuance for all Afghan passport holders.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced on X that asylum decisions would be paused ‘until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department has paused ‘visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.’
Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, blasted the move.
‘They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them.’
The order was announced publicly by Joseph B Edlow, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
Members of the National Guard walk near the site where two National Guard members were shot, near the White House, in Washington, DC
Following Beckstrom’s killing, Trump ordered 500 additional National Guard members into the capital.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the president personally requested the deployment.
Nearly 2,200 troops are now assigned to the joint task force operating in Washington.
