Uncommon Knowledge: Trump, Biden and the Real Record of A...

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The gunfire began at 2:15 p.m. on November 26, just off Farragut Square—walking distance to the White House. Two West Virginia National Guard soldiers—Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe—fell, critically wounded. By evening, officials had a name—Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29—and a set of fragments that launched a thousand takes: he worked with the CIA in Afghanistan; he arrived in the U.S. in 2021 amid the Kabul airlift; he later applied for asylum; this was reportedly granted in April 2025 under the Trump administration.

As investigators cautioned that a motive had not yet been established, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced they had paused processing of immigration requests related to Afghan nationals while vetting protocols were reviewed. The context officials already had in hand is less cinematic, but more illuminating: there were real risks baked into the airlift; some evacuees did appear on a terrorism watchlist at some point; and the government knew the system was imperfect.

A Justice Department inspector-general audit in June tallied 55 evacuees who were put on the watchlist during or after entry (a dynamic list that changes with new information, with the vast majority later cleared), while a Homeland Security report a year earlier described a "fragmented process" for identifying and resolving derogatory information—weaknesses DHS formally agreed to fix.

Common Knowledge

The administration moved fast. On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump called the ambush "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror," adding that America must "reexamine every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country under Biden."

Within hours came the USCIS announcement that the "processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols."

Condemnation of the shooting has been universal. Former President Joe Biden said he and his wife Jill were "heartbroken."

"Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and we must all stand united against it," he said in a statement posted on social media.

Uncommon Knowledge

Afghan vetting was—and remains—a two-phase process. The first, in August-September 2021, was understandably stressed and imperfect, as DHS’ own watchdog concedes. The second phase, over months and years on U.S. soil, did the bulk of the sorting.

The Justice Department watchdog's report from June 2025 found that when potential threats were identified, the FBI "used its investigative authorities to mitigate those potential threats." While 55 evacuees were identified as watchlist matches at some point, 46 were later removed from the list after further checks. Nine remained on it as of July 2024. In other words, much of the vetting that happens via rechecks and investigations that either clears or escalates cases.

That means that of the high-risk cohort most likely to alarm the public—evacuees who hit on the watchlist—the majority were ultimately cleared after additional scrutiny. Being a "hit" (put on a watchlist) is not a conviction; it’s an investigative status that can change as new information arrives, which is precisely why post-arrival vetting and investigations exist. It’s humbling for absolutists on either side: it both justifies vigilance (there were real hits, and nine remained) and undercuts blanket claims of systemic failure (most hits were removed after review).

What was fixed—and what wasn’t? The FBI approach looks like a case study in layered vetting: biographic and biometric checks, partner notifications, and the ability to add someone to the watchlist if new derogatory information surfaces after entry. The DHS, by its own inspector-general’s telling, still had a "fragmented process" for identifying and resolving derogatory information about parolees as of 2024—workflows inside the immigration bureaucracy didn't move quickly and uniformly.

How many Afghans came, and where did they land? Media shorthand often cites "about 75,000” parolees from the 2021 operation, which is reasonably accurate for the humanitarian-parole cohort, but the broader intake also included Special Immigrant Visa holders and refugees who arrived with permanent status. More than a third of early evacuees arrived in Texas, California, and Virginia, partly because of the established Afghan diasporas in these areas.

But parole and asylum are not interchangeable: parole is a temporary entry tool DHS can use at speed; asylum is a later, adjudicated protection that requires meeting statutory standards after additional screening and evidence. Whatever investigators ultimately conclude about the D.C. suspect’s motive, the reported timeline in this case features two separable decisions: entry during the Biden-era airlift and an asylum grant in April 2025 under Trump. Collapsing them may make for good politics, but it's bad analysis.

Airlifts are, by design, complex and rapid. The question is whether the post-arrival machinery can catch, clear, and keep checking. The FBI may have followed required processes to mitigate potential threats, but the system is imperfect.

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