DC Attack Exposes Catastrophic Failures of Biden Administration’s Afghan Refugee Vetting Process

The facts are straightforward and damning. The Afghan national who opened fire on National Guard troops blocks from the White House this week entered the United States through President Biden’s disastrous “Operation Allies Welcome” program, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to America in 2021 as part of the chaotic evacuation that followed Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. That program allowed approximately 77,000 Afghan nationals into the country with grossly inadequate vetting procedures.

This outcome was entirely predictable because the problems were documented in real time. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General discovered that federal officials lacked sufficient information to properly vet evacuees and in numerous cases possessed incomplete or inaccurate background information on individuals being admitted to American soil.

The Inspector General’s report reached an unambiguous conclusion: the Biden administration “admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted” despite the fact these individuals “posed a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.”

Let that sink in. The administration knew it was admitting people without complete vetting. It knew these individuals posed security risks. It proceeded anyway.

The security failures extended beyond inadequate paperwork. Hundreds of Afghan evacuees simply walked off American military bases where they were temporarily housed before completing the vetting process. They disappeared into the American interior with no one tracking their whereabouts or activities.

This was not Lakanwal’s first brush with controversy under Operation Allies Welcome. The program previously allowed Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, into the United States. The Department of Justice charged Tawhedi last year with allegedly plotting an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS. According to prosecutors, he liquidated his family’s assets, moved relatives overseas, and acquired AK-47 rifles and ammunition to carry out his planned attack.

Two separate cases. Two Afghan nationals admitted under the same program. Two alleged plots involving violence against Americans.

The pattern is clear and the logic inescapable. When you abandon proper vetting procedures in favor of political expediency, you create security vulnerabilities. When those vulnerabilities are exploited, Americans pay the price.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem refused to name the alleged shooter in her statement, correctly noting he should be “starved of the glory he so desperately wants.” She condemned politicians and media figures who vilify law enforcement and military personnel, emphasizing that National Guard members are “mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, children of God, carrying out the same basic public safety and immigration laws enshrined in law for decades.”

President Trump characterized the incident as a “monstrous ambush” and directly blamed the Biden administration for admitting the alleged shooter into the country.

The two West Virginia National Guard soldiers who were shot were serving their country in our nation’s capital. They were doing their duty. They deserved better than to be targeted by someone who should never have been admitted to the United States in the first place.

The Biden administration prioritized speed and optics over security during the Afghanistan withdrawal. The consequences of that decision continue to unfold. This attack represents yet another preventable tragedy resulting from the systematic abandonment of common-sense vetting procedures in favor of political considerations.

National security is not complicated. You verify who people are before you let them into your country. You complete background checks before you release them into American communities. You prioritize the safety of American citizens over political convenience.

The Biden administration failed on every count. Americans are paying the price for that failure.

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