The Afghan suspect who shot dead two National Guardsmen in Washington DC was suffering from mental health problems due to the violent nature of his work with the so-called “Unit Zero”, a paramilitary group working with the CIA, a childhood friend told the NYT. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, arrived in the US after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and had been granted political asylum a few months ago. One of the soldiers shot, a 20-year-old woman, has since died of her injuries. The other victim, a 24-year-old soldier, is in critical condition.
“He was telling me and our friends that their military operations were very tough, that their work was very difficult and that they were under a lot of pressure”said this friend, who introduced himself as Muhammad.
The “Zero Units” had a reputation for brutality and were dubbed “death squads” by human rights groups.
Their members were among the thousands of Afghans resettled in the United States under the Biden administration after the chaotic withdrawal of American troops in August 2021, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of the country. Federal officials said Lakanwal had benefited from the program and had settled with his family in Washington state.
“The Biden administration motivated bringing the alleged attacker to the United States in September 2021 in light of his past collaboration with the US government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar”CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.
An Afghan intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, confirmed that Lakanwal served in Kandahar in one of the Zero Units, which were officially part of the Afghan intelligence service. The units were trained to carry out night raids targeting suspected Taliban members and have been accused by human rights groups of mass killing of civilians.
The said intelligence officer said one of Lakanwal's brothers was the deputy commander of Unit Zero in Kandahar, known as 03.
The suspect's childhood friend also revealed that he last saw him weeks before the Taliban seized power in 2021. Lakanwal arrived in his hometown of Khost to marry his second wife. He had started smoking weed, Muhammed said, and divorced his new wife just days after the wedding.
“When he saw blood, dead bodies and wounded, it was unbearable and it put a lot of pressure on his mind.”
Taliban officials on Thursday denounced Unit Zero's actions during the war. Sediqullah Quraishi Badloon, a provincial official in Nangarhar, eastern Afghanistan, accused the groups of looting after the chaotic fall of the US-backed government.
“After that, they fled to the United States in search of a better lifeBadloon wrote in a social media post.Even now, these traitors do not let the Afghan people live in peace.”
The CIA has denied allegations of brutality among the units, saying they are the product of Taliban propaganda. US officials said the units played an important role in the American evacuation from Afghanistan. The units assisted both US citizens and Afghan partners to get to the airport and board flights to the US.
In at least one case, however, US Citizenship and Immigration Services cited a Human Rights Watch report denouncing unit violence as a reason to deny US citizenship to an Afghan soldier who had fought alongside US forces during the war.
