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ISLAMABAD: Federal investigators in Washington are increasingly focusing onTaliban blackmail as the primary motive behind the fatal shooting of a20-year-old District of Columbia National Guard soldier by a former Afghancommando who once fought alongside American forces.
Sarah Beckstrom was killed and another soldier wounded on Monday whenRahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, allegedly opened fire with a .357 revolveroutside a National Guard facility less than a mile from the White House.Lakanwal, who was shot dead by responding officers, had served in aCIA-backed Afghan paramilitary unit known as Commando Force 333 andparticipated in the 2021 Kabul evacuation.
Multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation toldAmerican media that Lakanwal showed no prior signs of radicalisation andhad passed repeated security screenings after resettlement in the UnitedStates. However, intelligence assessments now indicate he may have beencoerced by Taliban elements who continue to hunt down former U.S.-alignedfighters and their families inside Afghanistan.
Officials believe units such as the Taliban’s Yarmouk 60 special force havespent years tracking down veterans of CIA-supported commando groups,executing relatives through beheadings and other brutal methods when thefighters themselves could not be located. An estimated seven hundredmembers of these elite Afghan units remain detained or under direct threatinside the country.
The emerging theory suggests Lakanwal drove more than three thousandkilometres from his home in California carrying only a single revolver toattack heavily armed troops in what investigators describe as a deliberatesuicide mission intended to end Taliban leverage over his family. Financialdistress and untreated trauma from years of combat are also being examinedas contributing factors that may have made him vulnerable to coercion.
The case has ignited fierce political debate in Washington, with formerpresident Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers branding Lakanwalan Islamist terrorist who should never have been allowed entry. Critics ofthe 2021 withdrawal, however, argue the incident represents a predictableconsequence of abandoning thousands of Afghan partners to Talibanretribution after two decades of war.
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Defence officials confirmed that despite extensive vetting programmes, nomechanism exists to protect the families of resettled commandos who remainin Afghanistan. Rights groups say dozens of relatives have already beenkilled since the Taliban returned to power.
The investigation remains active as authorities examine Lakanwal’scommunications and financial records for evidence of direct contact withTaliban operatives.
Source:https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/02/afghan-veteran-shooting-taliban-coercion/
Tags:Taliban, Afghanistan, United States, CIA, National Guard
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