The United States’ Department of State has paused all visas for individuals travelling with Afghan passports after the attack on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and severely injured Guardsman Andrew Wolfe.
An Afghan National, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was arrested in connection with the shooting.
IMMEDIATELY paused visa
"The Department of State has IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for individuals travelling on Afghan passports," the agency wrote in an announcement on Twitter. The statement added that "The Department is taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. national security and public safety." Secretary of State Marco Rubio replied to the post on social media, claiming, “The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people.”
Lakanwal came to the U.S. in 2021 and was granted asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration. Donald Trump has blamed the Biden administration for Lakanwal’s presence in the U.S., but it was his administration that granted Lakanwal asylum.
When FBI director Kash Patel was asked about the vetting process, he refused to answer. Prior to his arrival in the US, Lakanwal worked with the CIA “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, CIA Director, said in a statement. In a statement on Friday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Joseph Edlow said his agency had paused all asylum decisions in the interest of the “safety of the American people”.
“USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
Edlow also called for “a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern.” There are currently 19 countries labelled as "high-risk" by the USCIS, including Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
A poor vetting process
The arrest and subsequent visa restrictions have sparked questions about why Lakanwal received a visa at all, and critics on both sides of the political spectrum are calling for an investigation into the vetting process used by the United States under Donald Trump. Additionally, it was revealed that prior to his arrival in the US, Lakanwal worked with the CIA “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Trump claimed that, “He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. It happens too often with these people. You see them. But look, this is how they come in, they’re standing on top of each other,” Lakanwal now faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Trump has now promised to send 500 more National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., though it’s unclear where the additional troops would come from.
Rocking the administration
The shooting of Wolfe and Beckstrom has rocked the Trump administration over the last week. Just days ago, on November 27, Donald Trump snapped at a reporter who questioned Lakanwal’s vetting process, calling her “a stupid person.” Trump said“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? They came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.”
Lakanwal came to the US as part of the Biden-era program “Operation Allies Welcome,” which came after the US extracted its troops from Afghanistan. Lakanwal was not granted asylum until 2025, after Donald Trump was elected.
AfghanEvac comments
Nonprofit group AfghanEvac denounced the visa pausing, calling the administration's decision a "violation of federal law." AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver released a statement on November 28 calling the decision unlawful, stating, "It appears Secretary Rubio is attempting to shut down the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program in direct violation of federal law and standing court orders. He is seemingly acting at the direction of President Trump and Stephen Miller, and there is no doubt this is the outcome they have been driving toward for months"
It's unclear how the US government will enact these new directives, or how quickly it will happen. Donald Trump said on Thursday, “You can’t get them out once they come in." At least 400,000 people have been deported from the U.S. since Donald Trump took office.