2 National Guard Members shot near White House
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I thought he was from Afghanistan.
What a fetid pile of Trumpshit that is.
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He's an Afghan brown skin Muslim terrorist. Seattle has nothing to do with him gunning down the two NG heroes.
Once Trump granted his asylum back in April, he began planning his potential terrorist attack . Some people are saying that once the NG were deployed to DC as a stunt, he knew the perfect plan was to come to DC and shoot two young innocent NG.
Thanks Trump
EyeballKid
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So he’s a lone wolf who’s suffering from mental illness, right?
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C'mon man, you know better than that...
Only white people who engage in shootings have a mental illness. This guy was a brown skin Afghan Muslim terrorist.
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And the congregation said Amen
theel4life
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JCTarheel82
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And, unsurprisingly, we see those same right wing media talking points parroted by our board taters while they gloss right over any information that runs contrary to what they want to believe.
Facts don't matter – only the narrative.
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Correct. Only the script matters
It is a @1moretimeagain requirement.
ChileG
Inconceivable Member
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Or just never to the thread to face the music.
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Duh...
Don't fear you will be targeted; fully understand you will be targeted by the Trump jackbooted stormtroopers.
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The father of Sarah Beckstrom, one of the wounded National Guard members, said his daughter was unlikely to recover. “I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said when reached by phone. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.” He declined to talk further. Beckstrom and the other wounded Guard soldier, Andrew Wolfe, are in critical condition, officials have said.
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The man suspected of shooting two National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was once part of a C.I.A.-backed paramilitary group, one of several so-called Zero Units, according to Afghan and U.S. officials.
These units, formerly known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, were trained to conduct night raids and clandestine missions across Afghanistan during the U.S. war in the country. By the time the United States had withdrawn from Afghanistan in August 2021, the units had officially become part of the Afghan intelligence service and included thousands of members.
As the Afghan military dissolved and the U.S. military scrambled to evacuate thousands of people during the Taliban’s rapid takeover, the Zero Units were essential to securing the remaining U.S. and NATO bases in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. For some Zero Unit members, this ensured their eventual evacuation to the United States.
The suspect received asylum from the U.S. government in April, according to three people with knowledge of the case who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Mr. Lakanwal was assigned to the 03 unit, according to an Afghan intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to comment publicly on the issue. The unit was responsible for operations around the southern province of Kandahar and beyond. Though the unit was based in the south, much of its leadership and members, like Mr. Lakanwal, were from Afghanistan’s east. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, many of the unit members were evacuated with the United States’ help, including its last commander, and resettled in the Seattle area.
Several former members of the Zero Units living in the United States were terrified by what had happened. Reached by phone, they said they were trying to live like responsible citizens, working to build a life from scratch
The Zero Units were largely recruited, trained, equipped and overseen by the C.I.A., according to Human Rights Watch. U.S. Special Operations forces working with the C.I.A. also provided the units with ground support and intelligence during their operations. Afghan officials told The New York Times in 2021 that their salaries were paid by the C.I.A.
The units, however, operated largely outside of the normal chain of command of U.S. and Afghan forces. In July 2021, when the president of Afghanistan wanted the forces to defend Kandahar City against the advancing Taliban, he had to ask the C.I.A. for the units’ aid, according to Afghan officials.
The units also had a reputation for ruthlessness, with journalists and human rights groups referring to them as “death squads.”
In a 2019 report, Human Rights Watch said it had documented several instances in which the strike forces were responsible for “extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, attacks on medical facilities, and other violations of international humanitarian law.”
In one instance, in 2018, an Afghan paramilitary force unit raided a home in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan, shooting and killing five members of a family, including an older woman and a child, according to Human Rights Watch.
Taliban officials have also condemned the units. On Thursday, an official in Nangarhar accused the groups of looting during the fall of the U.S.-backed government.
The C.I.A. has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda. But in at least one instance, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services used a Human Rights Watch report decrying the units as a reason to deny asylum to an Afghan soldier who had worked alongside the U.S. forces during the war.
Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting from Washington. Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting.
These units, formerly known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, were trained to conduct night raids and clandestine missions across Afghanistan during the U.S. war in the country. By the time the United States had withdrawn from Afghanistan in August 2021, the units had officially become part of the Afghan intelligence service and included thousands of members.
As the Afghan military dissolved and the U.S. military scrambled to evacuate thousands of people during the Taliban’s rapid takeover, the Zero Units were essential to securing the remaining U.S. and NATO bases in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. For some Zero Unit members, this ensured their eventual evacuation to the United States.
The suspect received asylum from the U.S. government in April, according to three people with knowledge of the case who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Mr. Lakanwal was assigned to the 03 unit, according to an Afghan intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to comment publicly on the issue. The unit was responsible for operations around the southern province of Kandahar and beyond. Though the unit was based in the south, much of its leadership and members, like Mr. Lakanwal, were from Afghanistan’s east. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, many of the unit members were evacuated with the United States’ help, including its last commander, and resettled in the Seattle area.
Several former members of the Zero Units living in the United States were terrified by what had happened. Reached by phone, they said they were trying to live like responsible citizens, working to build a life from scratch
The Zero Units were largely recruited, trained, equipped and overseen by the C.I.A., according to Human Rights Watch. U.S. Special Operations forces working with the C.I.A. also provided the units with ground support and intelligence during their operations. Afghan officials told The New York Times in 2021 that their salaries were paid by the C.I.A.
The units, however, operated largely outside of the normal chain of command of U.S. and Afghan forces. In July 2021, when the president of Afghanistan wanted the forces to defend Kandahar City against the advancing Taliban, he had to ask the C.I.A. for the units’ aid, according to Afghan officials.
The units also had a reputation for ruthlessness, with journalists and human rights groups referring to them as “death squads.”
In a 2019 report, Human Rights Watch said it had documented several instances in which the strike forces were responsible for “extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, attacks on medical facilities, and other violations of international humanitarian law.”
In one instance, in 2018, an Afghan paramilitary force unit raided a home in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan, shooting and killing five members of a family, including an older woman and a child, according to Human Rights Watch.
Taliban officials have also condemned the units. On Thursday, an official in Nangarhar accused the groups of looting during the fall of the U.S.-backed government.
The C.I.A. has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda. But in at least one instance, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services used a Human Rights Watch report decrying the units as a reason to deny asylum to an Afghan soldier who had worked alongside the U.S. forces during the war.
Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting from Washington. Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting.