Afghan suspect involved in National Guard shooting worked for elite CIA unit

The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guardsmen just blocks from the White House the day before Thanksgiving served in an elite CIA counterterrorism unit in Afghanistan, according to new details emerging Thursday about the suspect’s background.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, served in Afghanistan with NDS-03, an elite unit run by the CIA with direct support from U.S. intelligence and military services, according to Afghan Evac, a nonprofit organization that works with Afghans on Special Immigration Visas (SIV).

Lakanwal’s unit operated in Afghanistan’s southern region – in Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan – from the former compound of the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar, commonly referred to as “Mullah Omar’s House” and by US forces as “Camp Gecko”.

NDS-03 was one of five paramilitary groups working with the CIA. They were commonly called “zero units” because of the numbers following their designation by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) or the Afghan intelligence service.

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Afghan members of the units were highly selected and trained by the CIA and carried out some of the most difficult counterterrorism missions against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and others. They were very trustworthy and courageous, according to those who worked with them.

Lakanwal entered the United States legally in 2021 on humanitarian parole as part of the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome that followed the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover of the country. The operation aimed to support and resettle vulnerable Afghans, including those who had assisted U.S. troops in the past.

National Guard members gather behind yellow tape, after two National Guard members were shot near the White House in Washington, DC, November 26, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

His asylum application was approved in April 2025 under the Trump administration, the nonprofit said.

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U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and FBI Director Kash Patel criticized the vetting process during a news conference Thursday.

DC U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks during a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel and other authorities regarding the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, November 27, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

Pirro said the shooting is an example of what happens “in this country when people are allowed in without being properly vetted.” Patel said the Biden administration has allowed “thousands of people into this country without conducting a single background check or screening.”

A senior US official told Fox News that the CIA allegedly conducted its own investigation of him through various databases, including the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) database, to see if he had any known ties to terrorist groups before working with him.

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Lakanwal began working with the CIA around 2011, when he was probably 15 years old, according to the official, who added that the CIA allegedly kept the identities of those they worked with secret.

The official noted that it was common at the time for Afghans to falsify their birth certificates to make it appear they were 18 or older before applying to work with the U.S. government. Few official birth records are kept in Afghanistan, and it is often difficult to know a person’s exact age, the official added.

The NCTC would have screened him during Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 for any links to terrorism before he was allowed to enter the United States, the senior official said.

“In terms of monitoring, nothing has been done,” the senior US official told Fox News. “He was impeccable in all the tests.”

The senior official added that the U.S. government has conducted ongoing annual checks since Afghans arrived in the United States, particularly following the foiled terrorist plot in Oklahoma before last year’s election, which involved an Afghan evacuee.

Lakanwal is accused of shooting National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, near the Farragut West Metro station around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.

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Pirro said the suspect “ambushed” the two men in a “targeted” attack. The suspect was then shot by a guard who intervened and subdued him. He was hospitalized and placed under “high surveillance”, she said.

Beckstrom and Wolfe remain in critical condition after undergoing surgery, Pirro said.