An Afghan evacuee shot two West Virginia National Guardsmen, killing Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and raising new questions about vetting failures during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.
After the tragic Wednesday shooting of two West Virginia National Guardsmen in Washington, renewed scrutiny is falling on the vetting process for Afghan evacuees.
The identification of a suspect has resurfaced concerns surrounding the chaotic 2021 Kabul evacuation and previous reports of misconduct by evacuees on U.S. military bases.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, originally of Afghanistan and once part of a CIA-linked team fighting the Taliban, was identified as the main suspect in the shooting, which has since claimed the life of West Virginia National Guard member Spc. Sarah Beckstrom of Nicholas County, West Virginia.
On Friday, «Ingraham Angle» host Laura Ingraham told Fox News Digital that she and other conservatives have been sounding the alarm on failures of Biden-era vetting following the withdrawal — ever since the Fox News host exclusively broke the story in September 2021 that members of Congress brought concerns over chaos at Army bases holding refugees directly to the State Department.
«Soon after the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal, it was obvious that their intent was to bring as many Afghans into the U.S. as possible», Ingraham wrote in a Friday email.
«Conservatives including myself raised serious concerns about the cost, the difficulty of assimilation, and potential threats posed to no avail», she said. «The Biden team didn’t care.»
«We kept hearing — ‘But we promised….’ — Americans didn’t promise anything—and they shouldn’t be forced to keep paying for previous presidents’ horrendous mistakes.»
In September 2021, Ingraham exclusively reported that a top Republican demanded answers from then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the reports out of Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, depicting chaos and unvetted, unaccounted for evacuees.
«I’ve recently been made aware from someone at Fort Pickett, Virginia, that Afghan evacuees basically have free rein of the complex and have even been allowed to leave, despite not having completed the vetting process», then-Rep.
