What ties to the cia did the suspect who shot the national guardsmen in Washington DC have?
Executive summary
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has publicly said the suspect, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, “worked with CIA‑backed local units in Afghanistan” and was brought to the United States in September 2021 because of that prior work [1] [2]. Reporting across multiple outlets says he served as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that operated with U.S. agencies, but available sources do not provide detailed public documentation of the depth, duration, or exact nature of his work with the CIA beyond officials’ statements [3] [4] [5].
1. What officials have said: CIA ties confirmed in broad terms
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other U.S. officials have stated that Lakanwal “worked with CIA‑backed military units” or “worked with the CIA… as a member of a partner force in Kandahar” during the U.S. presence in Afghanistan; Ratcliffe also characterized his 2021 admission to the U.S. as justified by that prior work [1] [2] [3]. News organizations from Reuters to BBC to Axios quote these statements and frame the liaison as the reason he entered the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome in September 2021 [1] [4] [2].
2. How reporters describe the partner‑force role
Multiple outlets report Lakanwal was part of a “partner force” or CIA‑backed local units in Kandahar; some outlets cite earlier reporting that similar units—sometimes called “zero units” or special counterterrorism squads—were used alongside U.S. special forces [6] [7]. The Washington Post and Forbes reference accounts that such units carried out aggressive counter‑Taliban operations; The New York Times says he was “once part of an anti‑Taliban force supported by the C.I.A.” [7] [8].
3. What is not in the available reporting: specifics and records
Available sources do not publish CIA internal records, contracts, or personnel files that lay out a specific job title, dates of service, tasks performed, or formal employment status with the CIA for Lakanwal. Reporting relies on statements from officials (including Ratcliffe) and intelligence or law‑enforcement sources; there are no publicly available declassified documents cited in these articles that detail the precise scope of the relationship [1] [2] [5].
4. Vetting and admission to the U.S.: what officials claim
Officials quoted by CNN and other outlets say the CIA conducted vetting when he began working with partner forces and that additional vetting would have occurred during the 2021 evacuation and Operation Allies Welcome, including checks against databases like the National Counterterrorism Center [5]. At the same time, Ratcliffe’s public statement criticized prior admissions decisions and framed his arrival as tied to his U.S. government work [9] [2].
5. Competing frames and political context
Coverage shows clear partisan and political uses of the CIA linkage: some commentators and officials use Ratcliffe’s statement to argue that admitting Lakanwal was a policy failure tied to the 2021 withdrawal, while advocates and some reporters caution against broad judgments about evacuees and note existing vetting processes [9] [4]. Reuters and BBC report facts without partisan framing; Fox News, Daily Mail and others emphasize the connection as part of a political critique of prior administration evacuation decisions [1] [10] [11].
6. Human‑rights and operational history that appear in some reports
Some reporting referencing The New York Times and other sources describes the kinds of partner units that worked with U.S. forces—units sometimes alleged by human‑rights groups to have used brutal tactics—though details tied specifically to Lakanwal’s conduct in Afghanistan are based on interviews and contemporaneous reporting rather than declassified CIA material [7] [8]. Available sources note these reputations but do not present a publicly documented account tying Lakanwal to specific incidents.
7. Investigative status and limits of public knowledge
Federal authorities (FBI, U.S. attorneys) continue to investigate Lakanwal’s motives and past; reporting says searches of properties and evidence‑gathering are underway, but those investigations have not (in the sources provided) produced public, corroborated granular detail about his CIA relationship beyond official summaries [1] [5]. Forensic conclusions, internal CIA files, and full vetting records are not in the public record per the cited coverage [1] [5].
Conclusion — what we can say, and what remains unclear
On the record in multiple outlets, U.S. officials state Lakanwal worked with CIA‑backed partner forces in Kandahar and his prior work was the reason he was allowed entry in 2021 [2] [3] [1]. Beyond those official characterizations, available sources do not publish detailed operational records, employment documentation, or adjudicated findings that specify the precise nature, duration, or chain of command of his CIA ties [1] [5].