Watchdog reports and internal testimony detail widespread lapses in screening tens of thousands of evacuees flown from Kabul, including CIA-linked fighters brought into the U.S. under rushed procedures.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Biden administration’s 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan is again under scrutiny after an Afghan evacuee—identified as a former CIA-backed Zero Unit fighter—was charged in a deadly shooting near the White House. The attack has renewed focus on long-documented security lapses that plagued the chaotic airlift from Kabul and the rushed resettlement of tens of thousands of Afghans in the United States.
According to a Just the News report, multiple government watchdogs and congressional reports have since confirmed that the non-combatant evacuation operation from Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) was conducted with “inaccurate, incomplete, or missing” data on many evacuees. The Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon, and State Department each found severe failures in vetting procedures, ranging from missing biometric records to unverifiable identities.
CIA-linked fighter accused in D.C. ambush
The shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was reportedly part of the CIA-supported “Zero Unit,” an elite Afghan commando group that helped U.S. forces combat the Taliban. He and thousands of other fighters were brought to the U.S. under a secret 2021 arrangement with the CIA as the Taliban seized Kabul. Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 after helping secure HKIA during the evacuation.
Authorities allege that years later, Lakanwal traveled cross-country and fatally shot Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe—both members of the West Virginia National Guard—just blocks from the White House. President Donald Trump condemned it as “a monstrous, ambush-style attack.”
Lakanwal faces first-degree murder charges and has pleaded not guilty. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the incident was the result of “catastrophic failures” by the Biden administration. “The individual—and so many others—should have never been allowed to come here,” Ratcliffe told Fox News.
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent confirmed on X that Lakanwal “was vetted to fight alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan,” but “was NOT vetted for suitability to live in America.” Kent said the Biden administration “forewent previous vetting standards applied to Special Immigrant Visas,” resulting in “over 85,000 Afghans” admitted without the rigorous scrutiny used in past programs.
Vice President JD Vance said he opposed the policy in 2021, warning that “opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees” would endanger Americans. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Lakanwal was paroled into the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, describing him as “one of the many unvetted Afghan nationals mass paroled into the country.” FBI Director Kash Patel later added that the government “did absolutely zero vetting.”
Despite these claims, The Washington Post and Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported that intelligence agencies conducted multiple background checks on Lakanwal, both before and after his CIA service, and found no known ties to terrorism at the time of his entry.
Systemic breakdowns across agencies
The DHS inspector general later found that Customs and Border Protection “did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect evacuees.” Investigators documented thousands of missing or inaccurate names, birth dates, and document numbers. Some records listed “facilitation document” as the sole travel credential—an undefined term DHS could not explain.
The watchdog concluded that DHS “admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted” and warned that the department “may have admitted individuals who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.”
A separate Pentagon report found that at least 50 evacuees flagged with “potentially significant security concerns” were allowed into the U.S., while 28 others with derogatory information could not be located. Another DoD inspector general review in 2023 said analysts “might have removed from watch lists some Afghan identities that should have been retained.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley reported that 1.6% of the 100,000 evacuees had “links to terrorism or other derogatory information,” and DHS correspondence revealed thousands flagged for potential “national security” and “public safety” risks.
Inside the Kabul chaos
State Department staff stationed at HKIA described scenes of disarray, where biometric screening systems were unavailable and many evacuees lacked identification. One official admitted to investigators that “the U.S. government had no idea if people being evacuated were threats.”
Ambassador Greta Holtz, who oversaw screening in Doha, said roughly half of evacuees “had no ID whatsoever” and that many claimed identities could not be verified. “They could have been al Qaeda or Taliban,” she said. “We just wrote down whatever name they gave us.”
Officials improvised “temporary passports”—paper sheets with handwritten names and photos—to allow entry into Qatar, where additional vetting was supposed to occur. State Department records show no central database of evacuee data, forcing officers to “comb through hundreds of spreadsheets.”
James DeHart, a senior official involved in the evacuation, later wrote that during the rush to fill planes, “I didn’t care who got on which plane, where they flew, or how they landed.”
Aftermath and accountability
The Biden administration maintained at the time that all entrants underwent thorough checks. “If an individual is not through that vetting process, they’re not coming into the United States,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in August 2021.
Yet evidence from inspectors general, congressional oversight committees, and field testimony shows that large portions of those vetting systems failed.
As new details emerge about Lakanwal’s movements and background, the case has reignited debate over whether U.S. intelligence and immigration systems remain compromised by decisions made during the Kabul evacuation.
“President Trump’s State Department has paused visa issuance for all individuals traveling on Afghan passports,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday, adding: “The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people.”
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