After the U.S. navy’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s subsequent takeover, Rahmanullah Lakanwal was amongst greater than 76,000 Afghans allowed to resettle within the U.S. for humanitarian causes.
The 29-year-old Bellingham resident is now accused of driving cross-country to Washington, D.C., the place he allegedly shot two Nationwide Guard members on Wednesday, killing one.
Federal investigators haven’t mentioned what they consider motivated Lakanwal to journey to the nation’s capitol, the place he’s being handled for wounds. In Bellingham on Friday, few had been keen to talk overtly in regards to the capturing or its potential ties to their metropolis.
However the capturing has drawn consideration to Lakanwal’s journey from Afghanistan to Washington state and Operation Allies Welcome, this system that helped him and 1000’s of different Afghans to resettle within the U.S.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday mentioned the U.S. should reexamine” each Afghan who resettled within the U.S. throughout his predecessor’s administration. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies then introduced it had indefinitely halted processing any immigration requests from Afghanistan.
On Friday, U.S. Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle director Joe Kent — who ran twice, unsuccessfully, for Congress in Southwest Washington’s third Congressional District — mentioned on X that the U.S. ought to instantly start “rounding up” and deporting all Afghans who resettled within the nation.
How Lakanwal arrived within the U.S.
Former President Joe Biden launched this system Aug. 29, 2021, directing the Division of Homeland Safety to steer efforts to resettle weak Afghans within the U.S., many for as much as two years.
Greater than 40% of these delivered to the U.S. beneath Operation Allies Welcome had been eligible Particular Immigrant Visas as a result of they labored with the U.S. ultimately over the prior 20 years, or had been associated to somebody who did. Others had been allowed to resettle within the U.S. for humanitarian causes, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety.
Lakanwal was paroled into the U.S. beneath Operation Allies Welcome on Sept. 8, 2021, in keeping with an announcement Wednesday by the Division of Homeland Safety.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe mentioned Lakanwal labored with the CIA in Afghanistan, however didn’t specify what he did for the company.
Lakanwal and his household fled Taliban threats and had been granted resettlement within the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, in keeping with CBS. Lakanwal utilized for asylum with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in 2024 and his utility was granted this yr, together with his request for a inexperienced card nonetheless pending, the outlet reported.
It’s unclear how Lakanwal ended up in Bellingham. A spokesperson for the town declined to remark Friday on the town’s refugee inhabitants totals.
Beneath Operation Allies Welcome, 3,273 refugees have arrived in Washington, in keeping with the state Division of Social and Well being Companies.
Afghanistan is the highest nation of origin for newly arrived refugee candidates in Washington. From October 2024 to June 2025, there have been 2,158 Afghan candidates, in contrast with 371 functions from Ukraine, which had the second-highest quantity.
Many Afghan refugees had been resettled by native businesses in Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane and Whatcom counties, in keeping with an October 2021 report by the state Division of Social and Well being Companies.
A ‘rigorous screening and vetting course of’
Each Afghan evacuee underwent a “rigorous screening and vetting course of” earlier than being resettled within the U.S. beneath Operation Allies Welcome, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety.
The U.S. deployed about 400 personnel from federal businesses like Customs and Border Safety, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service to websites internationally to course of, display and vet individuals on a case-by-case foundation, in keeping with Homeland Safety.
Intelligence, regulation enforcement and counterterrorism professionals reviewed fingerprints, images and biographic information of each particular person earlier than they had been cleared to journey into the U.S. Anybody who failed a background examine abroad was not permitted to board a flight to the U.S., in keeping with Homeland Safety.
Afghans underwent a major inspection upon arriving within the U.S., and Customs and Border Patrol was licensed to disclaim anybody entry into the nation if there have been safety considerations. These granted resettlement had been briefed on U.S. legal guidelines and rights and the situations of their parole, together with that any criminal activity might result in their prosecution or imprisonment or lack of their immigration standing, in keeping with Homeland Safety.
Operation Allies Welcome adopted a a lot shorter timeline than the everyday U.S. resettlement course of, which features a vetting course of that may take as much as two years, in keeping with the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees.
In these circumstances, U.S. immigration officers carry out background checks and in-person interviews, utilizing strains of questioning crafted to elicit details about any involvement in terrorist or legal exercise, in keeping with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies.
What assist did U.S. give to these resettling?
Beginning July 30, 2021, 1000’s of evacuated Afghans arrived at eight “secure havens” — U.S. navy bases in West Virginia, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Texas, New Jersey and Indiana. There, they obtained medical and psychological well being providers and vaccinations and had been linked with nongovernmental organizations to assist them with resettlement, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety.
Greater than 200 organizations coordinated with federal officers on resettlement efforts, together with faith-based organizations, advocacy teams and state and native governments. Placement for every evacuee factored in any U.S. household or buddies, housing availability, “group capability and an individual’s wants, in keeping with Homeland Safety.
These granted humanitarian parole had been eligible for eight months for money and medical help, assist getting ready for and discovering jobs and English language coaching.
It is unclear what help Lakanwal obtained, or the place within the U.S. he was positioned earlier than he arrived in Bellingham.
Lakanwal spent a couple of month beginning in July as an Amazon Flex impartial contractor. He delivered packages to about 50 blocks complete and hasn’t been lively since, an Amazon spokesperson mentioned Friday. His employment historical past earlier than that’s unclear.
Authorities consider he and his household lived in Bellingham’s Walton Place housing complicated, which offers rent-restricted models for residents not exceeding sure incomes primarily based on family measurement. The screening additionally required a legal background examine.
Walton Place was quiet simply over 24 hours after the FBI swarmed the unit the place authorities consider Lakanwal and his household lived.
Whether or not due to the vacation weekend or buzzing media consideration, few residents might be seen transferring in regards to the complicated.
An obvious dent on a shiny yellow door smashed in by authorities was the one signal something was out of the extraordinary.
Seattle Instances workers reporters Kai Uyehara and Paige Cornwell contributed to this story.
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