A Daily Mail report over the weekend looked at the life of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national who is accused of the fatal shooting of a West Virginia National Guard member in Washington last week.
The 29-year-old Lakanwal had “failed to settle into American life” and never learned English in his four years in the United States, the report said.
Lakanwal was brought to the United States in 2021, following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, coming to the U.S. along with his wife and five children.
The Afghan man charged with first-degree murder after shooting dead a member of the West Virginia National Guard and critically wounding another had failed to settle into American life – and cannot speak a word of English, the Daily Mail can reveal. https://t.co/AVQ2VSWDAU
— Rita Oppenheim Pozniakoff (@ritapoz) December 1, 2025
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“But despite being resettled in the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Bellingham and being handed a taxpayer-funded luxury apartment, Lakanwal failed to make the most of his second chance, didn’t learn English, and had been unemployed for almost five months at the time of the shooting,” the Daily Mail said.
The New York Post, meanwhile, reported that a “leading national refugee agency was warned multiple times that the Afghan terror suspect accused of murdering one National Guard member and critically injuring another was spiraling into mania and mental illness beginning in 2023.”
“‘Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” an email from a relief agency said.
The Mail also reported that sources at the Islamic Society of Whatcom County stated that Lakanwal “attended services semi-regularly but was unable to communicate with other congregants beyond standard Arabic greetings.”
“‘We have been talking to the police and the FBI for the last two days, but we couldn’t tell them much because he doesn’t speak English or any Arabic other than the traditional greeting – ‘as-salamu alaykum’ [peace be upon you],” the mosque source told the Daily Mail.
Welker: What vetting did the Trump administration do before giving this suspect asylum?
Noem: That’s the Biden administration’s responsibility.
Welker: Asylum was approved in April of this year on the Trump administration’s watch. So just to be very clear, was there a vetting… pic.twitter.com/GRCO3ygIVm
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 30, 2025
Despite all of this, the newspaper reported, Lakanwal was granted asylum in April of this year, a move that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in an interview this weekend, blamed on the Biden Administration.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
