(Washington) One of the two members of the National Guard hit Wednesday in Washington by the shots of an Afghan suspect is dead, announced Thursday Donald Trump, who declared that he wanted to put an end to “immigration from all third world countries”.
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The soldier, Sarah Beckstrom, “has just left us”, declared the American president during a televised address, after this attack committed according to the authorities by a 29-year-old Afghan, who arrived in the United States in 2021 after serving alongside the American army in Afghanistan.
The other soldier hit above is “fighting for his life” and remains “in very serious condition,” he said.
As of Wednesday evening, the Republican billionaire announced a toughening of his anti-immigration policy. Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow announced Thursday the “comprehensive and rigorous review of every green card issued to any foreign national from countries deemed to be of concern.”
This permit granting the title of permanent resident in the United States will be re-examined for immigrants from Afghanistan, but also from 18 other countries including Venezuela, Haiti and Iran.
More broadly, Mr. Trump announced on Thursday that he wanted to “suspend immigration from all third world countries in order to allow the American system to fully recover”, in a long diatribe on his social networks.
“Western Civilization”
Entry authorizations to the country issued to “millions” of people by his predecessor Joe Biden could be called into question, he threatened.
He also promised that his government would “expel anyone who is not an asset to the United States (…), end federal benefits and subsidies for non-citizens of our country, denaturalize migrants who harm the national tranquility, and expel any foreign national who constitutes a public burden, a security risk or who is not compatible with Western civilization.”
The suspect in the attack, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, remained hospitalized Thursday.
According to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, he had worked with the US military in Afghanistan before being exfiltrated to the United States in 2021. “We are fully investigating this aspect of his past,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
PHOTO NATHAN HOWARD, REUTERS ARCHIVES
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a press conference in Washington, November 27, 2025.
American media claimed Friday that he was born in the province of Khost (South-East) and had joined the “zero units” of the Afghan services, in charge of commando missions against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) group.
Units operating outside the usual chain of command, and which “were largely recruited, trained, equipped and supervised by the CIA”, according to the organization Human Rights Watch. A diplomat nicknamed them the “death squads”.
THE New York Times cites a childhood friend of the suspect, affirming that Rahmanullah Lakanwal had been psychologically very affected by his missions within these units.
His motive remained unknown Friday.
He drove across the country from Washington state in the northwest to the federal capital on the east coast.
There, he carried out a “targeted” attack against soldiers of the National Guard, opening fire on two of them, aged around twenty, with a Smith & Wesson revolver, “without provocation, as in an ambush”. He was then neutralized by other National Guardsmen.
In recent months, Donald Trump has caused controversy by sending members of this army reserve corps to several Democratic cities, against the advice of local authorities, arguing the need to fight crime and illegal immigration.
“Isolated act”
The suspect arrived in the United States a month after the hasty withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, in August 2021, as part of an exfiltration operation of Afghans who collaborated with the Americans.
Officials from the FBI, CIA and Department of Homeland Security said he was not subject to scrutiny upon arrival and benefited from reception policies considered lax.
The American authorities announced after the attack that they would suspend the processing of immigration applications from Afghan nationals for an indefinite period.
AfghanEvac, an organization responsible for helping Afghans settle in the United States, assured that the community was subject to “some of the most thorough security checks (…) in immigration matters.
“The violent and isolated act of this individual should not be used as an excuse to define or demean an entire community,” warned its president, Shawn VanDiver.
According to the State Department, more than 190,000 Afghans have arrived in the United States since the Taliban took power.
