Authorities on Wednesday arrested 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal after two members of the United States National Guard (US NG) were ambushed and critically wounded just two blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C. The shooting occurred around 2:15 p.m. near the Farragut West metro station, and officials have classified it as a “targeted” attack and are treating it as a potential act of terrorism.
According to law-enforcement sources, Lakanwal entered the U.S. in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the evacuation initiative set up after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He later applied for asylum in December 2024, which was approved in April 2025. Before resettling in America, he reportedly served with U.S.-backed Afghan security forces including cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Afghanistan war.
Two West Virginia National Guard members a man and a woman who had been deployed to Washington just hours earlier were patrolling near the White House when the suspect allegedly opened fire without provocation. Investigators say he fired first at one soldier at close range, then turned and fired at the second. The assailant was shot and injured in the exchange but is now in custody. Both soldiers remain hospitalised in critical condition.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would indefinitely pause all immigration processing for Afghan nationals, including visas, asylum petitions, and family-reunification cases, citing the need for a comprehensive review of security and vetting protocols.
President Donald Trump condemned the attack as “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” and ordered 500 additional National Guard troops deployed to Washington. He said the incident underlines the need to re-examine the admission of Afghan evacuees. Meanwhile, federal investigators are scouring Lakanwal’s background, seizing electronics from his home in Washington state and opening a coast-to-coast probe to determine whether he had any accomplices.
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Officials have not yet disclosed a motive, and investigators emphasize that it is too early to draw conclusions about political or ideological intent. Still, the case has already reignited bitter national debate over U.S. immigration and security policy especially scrutiny of the 2021 Afghan evacuation.
The shooting near the White House the heart of American power and its aftermath demonstrate how a single act of violence can ripple across government policy, politics, and public sentiment. The coming days will be crucial to uncover the suspect’s motive and to assess whether security protocols for refugees and evacuees require deeper overhaul.
