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A senior U.S. official backed up Kent’s account, admitting the vetting used during the 2021 airlift was “a low standard” not previously used for U.S. admission. Prior administrations required Special Immigrant Visa applicants to undergo an 18-month process, including in-person interviews in third countries. Biden’s White House sidestepped all of it.
Former Trump officials told the New York Post that the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal opened the door for unvetted individuals, including Lakanwal, to enter the country. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the administration justified bringing him in “due to his prior work” with U.S. forces and intelligence officials in Kandahar.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lakanwal was part of Biden’s mass parole pipeline and entered alongside tens of thousands of Afghans with no realistic mechanism for removal. She emphasized that “this monster would not have been removed because of his parole.”
Lakanwal settled in Washington state with his wife and five children after arriving through Operation Allies Welcome. He later requested asylum and received approval in April 2025.
Investigators say Lakanwal launched a deadly ambush on two National Guard members on Thanksgiving Eve, striking Army National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom first. She died the following day. Air National Guard member Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition. Both soldiers had been sworn in less than 24 hours before the attack.
Officials say the suspect began firing with a revolver, then seized Beckstrom’s rifle and continued shooting until another Guardsman tackled him while he attempted to reload.
Security analysts say this tragedy highlights exactly what conservatives warned about during the Afghanistan withdrawal — that the Biden administration knowingly allowed tens of thousands of unvetted individuals into the country. One veteran who participated in the airlift openly stated there was “zero vetting” for many evacuees, adding: “We have no idea who they are.”
U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro identified the two Guard members at a Thursday briefing and confirmed both had undergone surgery. Pirro said, “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree, but make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge – murder in the first degree.”
The American people were promised a “thorough, safe, secure” evacuation. What they got instead was a humanitarian collapse, a national security catastrophe, and now a murdered National Guard soldier whose death traces directly back to rushed, reckless policy decisions at the highest level.
