A chilling, targeted ambush near the White House has once again exposed the deadly consequences of reckless policy choices that put politics ahead of American safety. Authorities say the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who previously worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan and is accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, one of whom has tragically died.
Reporting shows Lakanwal came to the United States in September 2021 under the chaos of Operation Allies Welcome and was later granted asylum after applying in 2024, a pathway that should have triggered far more rigorous oversight given his paramilitary background. This is not an abstract failure — it is the tangible result of the Biden administration’s sloppy handoff during the withdrawal and the porous screening that followed.
Prosecutors have moved quickly to upgrade charges to first-degree murder after Specialist Sarah Beckstrom succumbed to her wounds, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition, underscoring the grave human cost of these policy failures. The suspect is accused of planning a targeted attack, traveling cross-country to carry it out, and local and federal law enforcement have now launched comprehensive searches and investigations.
Veterans who were on the air — including former Army special operations soldier Seth Jahn and USMC Force Recon veteran Chad Robichaux — spoke bluntly about seeing the same patterns on the ground: infiltration, radicalization, and the lingering “remnants of the recklessness of the former administration” that left our country exposed. Their warnings should be listened to, not dismissed; men and women who bled for this country are sounding the alarm because they know the terrain and the enemy.
President Trump reacted by ordering a pause on asylum decisions and visa processing for Afghan passport holders while reviewing vetting procedures, a commonsense step that should have been taken years ago and must be followed by permanent reforms. Conservatives have been saying for years that open-door chaos equals national-security risk; now that prediction has become a tragic reality that demands immediate policy correction.
Washington elites and career bureaucrats who waved through mass evacuations and resettlements without proper vetting must be held to account. We need a full audit of how known paramilitaries and radicalized actors were allowed into the country, an overhaul of asylum vetting tied to national-security standards, and swift deportations for anyone found to be a clear and present danger to Americans.
Our hearts go out to Specialist Beckstrom’s family and to Staff Sgt. Wolfe as he fights to recover; these young patriots answered the call to defend American cities and were ambushed while serving under orders. The righteous response from conservatives is simple: honor and protect our troops, secure our borders, and never again let ideological softness or bureaucratic incompetence invite terror to our streets.
