Afghans in US plead with Trump after ‘tragic’ Washington DC shooting

Afghans living in the US have condemned Wednesday’s “very sad” deadly shooting attack in Washington DC, while insisting the suspect – who came to the US from Afghanistan four years ago – does not represent them.

The alleged gunman, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakhanwal, entered the United States under a program that gives special immigration protection to Afghans working with the United States in the run-up to the 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in Wednesday’s shooting, and a colleague, Andrew Wolf, 24, is said to be fighting for his life.

In response, US President Donald Trump has halted the processing of all immigration applications from Afghans, ordered a review of green cards issued to individuals from 19 countries and threatened a broader crackdown on migrants from what he calls “Third World countries”.

The Afghan Community Coalition of the United States expressed sympathy for the families of the victims and called for a “thorough investigation” but urged the US government not to delay or suspend Afghan immigration claims.

Twenty years of Afghanistan-US partnership should not be forgotten, the coalition statement said, with the US giving a nod to two decades of efforts to overthrow the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 and restore security in the country.

Afghans living in the US told the BBC they were horrified by the Washington DC attack, which they stressed was the act of just one man.

He spoke anonymously out of fear of a retaliatory Taliban takeover of Afghanistan after US forces withdraw in 2021.

One of the Afghans who made their way after the US withdrawal described Wednesday’s incident as “very sad”. He noted the time leading up to Thanksgiving and the “largely political climate in Washington, DC.”

But he emphasized that the shooting was “an individual criminal offense, not representative of society”.

“Afghans in the United States are hard-working, tax-paying members of society,” he added. “He is grateful to the US for its evacuation efforts during the crisis in Kabul.”

Thousands of Afghans fled the country in 2021, many via Kabul, as the US withdrew its troops and the Taliban moved in.

The suspect, Mr Luckanwal, US officials said had ties to US troops in Afghanistan while they were stationed there. A former army commander who worked with him told the BBC that he helped protect US forces at Kabul airport during the retreat.

He came to America the same year. He applied for asylum in 2024 and his application was approved earlier this year, an official told BBC partner CBS News.

Another Afghan, who moved to the U.S. after fleeing Afghanistan four years ago, called Wednesday’s shooting “really shocking.” He said he is praying for the families of the victims.

He suspected that it was an “individual crime committed without the support, participation and cooperation of others” and said “this attack should not be calculated for the entire community”.

Another Afghan man living in the US who spoke to the BBC said the shooting was a “very devastating event for all migrants”, and that the political backlash had left many people in a state of uncertainty.

“It’s really bad for everybody that the Trump administration wants to reevaluate the immigration process,” he said. “It’s time-consuming and nobody knows what will happen.”

The situation was exacerbated by threats in his home country, he said: “For us Afghans there is a problem in Afghanistan and here as well.”