The ambush near Farragut West that left two West Virginia National Guard members shot — and one dead — is a gut punch to every American who believes our capital and our soldiers deserve protection. Law enforcement has identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, and the brutal, close-range nature of the attack demands answers about how someone with this background was walking American streets.
Officials say Lakanwal arrived here during the chaotic 2021 evacuation under the program set up to move Afghans out of harm’s way, and that he previously worked with CIA-backed partner forces in Afghanistan before being resettled in the U.S. This is not a detail to be brushed aside; it raises urgent questions about how wartime partners were handled and whether vetting and follow-through were adequate.
Let’s call it what it was: a predictable consequence of open-door policies run amok. Tens of thousands of Afghans were admitted in the wake of the withdrawal, and critics warned then — as we warned now — that a panicked, bureaucratic evacuation would create gaps in screening and tracking that bad actors could exploit. Washington owed our troops better than a rushed parole-and-resettle program that left records inconsistent and oversight dangerously thin.
President Trump’s response — pausing certain migration streams, ordering a reexamination of asylum approvals and green cards, and freezing Afghan processing — is the kind of hard-edged action this moment requires. Politicians who want to lecture about compassion can do so after they explain how they protected Americans first; policy must be smart, secure, and relentless about preventing threats from entering our country.
This is also a test of accountability. The same officials who celebrated the 2021 evacuations must now explain the paperwork failures, the tracking problems, and the lapses in follow-up that allowed a suspect to live unmonitored across state lines before allegedly driving to our capital to commit violence. Meanwhile, our men and women in uniform are being ordered into harm’s way on our streets — they deserve policies that prioritize their safety over political optics.
Hardworking taxpayers are rightly furious about the cost, the risk, and the moral hazard of importing instability while domestic crime surges in our cities. This isn’t xenophobia; it’s common-sense patriotism: screen properly, enforce the law, and deport those who pose a threat. If Washington refuses to act, leaders who love this country must push for emergency fixes, not excuses.
We owe a full-throated defense to the families of the fallen and to every Guard member who volunteered to keep Americans safe. Demand hearings, demand accountability, and demand real reform: wall off our borders where necessary, restore robust vetting, and rebuild an immigration system that puts citizens first. Our country and our troops deserve no less.
