D.C. shooting suspect was part of a CIA-backed unit whose veterans have struggled in the U.S.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal was a member of a “Zero Unit,” an elite squad of Afghans who have faced hardships in the U.S. due to visa and employment issues.

Before Rahmanullah Lakanwal settled in a quiet part of Washington state, he was part of a secret unit of Afghans who operated under CIA direction and hunted down Taliban commanders in highly dangerous missions.

They “took malignant actors off the battlefield and saved American lives, period,” said Andrew Sullivan, who served as an officer with the Army’s 1st Division in Afghanistan and is now executive director of No One Left Behind, a nonprofit that helps resettle Afghans who worked for the U.S. military during the war.

These members of “Zero Units,” also known as National Strike Units, were among the most extensively vetted of any Afghans who worked with American forces. CIA officers hailed their bravery, skill and loyalty, and the agency prioritized their evacuation from Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul in 2021 because they were prime targets for the Taliban.

But since arriving in the United States, thousands of these Afghan veterans have lived in a legal limbo without work permits, struggling to feed their families, according to refugee advocates. Their former CIA and military colleagues appealed to both the Biden and Trump administrations and to Congress to take action to resolve their legal status, warning that the lack of progress was driving some veterans into despair, the advocates said.

Lakanwal, 29, is accused of driving across the country and shooting two National Guard members near the White House last week, killing Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounding Andrew Wolfe, 24. The suspect, who was shot and wounded during the attack, will face charges of first-degree murder and other offenses, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said.