A history of ‘Operation Allies Welcome,’ which allowed Afghans U.S. entry : NPR

Streets are blocked after two National Guard soldiers were shot Wednesday near the White House in Washington.

Anthony Peltier/AP

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Anthony Peltier/AP

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan suspected of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, was in the United States after entering the country in 2021 as part of a program called Operation Allies Welcome. His motivations are still unknown.

Here’s why the program was created and how Afghans entering the United States were screened.

The origins of Operation Allies Welcome

When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, chaotic scenes occurred as thousands of Afghans rushed to the airport, desperate to escape. The world watched in horror as some of them were crushed to death by the crowds trying to flee.

The U.S. exit from Afghanistan took place during the tenure of former President Joe Biden, but it was triggered by the first Trump administration, which signed a deal with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw after two decades in the country.

In announcing the end of the war on August 31, 2021, Biden hailed the U.S. evacuation of Afghans as unprecedented and pledged to continue helping those under threat.

“As for the Afghans, we and our partners have airlifted 100,000 of them,” he said in a speech. “We will continue to work to help more people at risk leave the country. And we are far from done.”

Two days before that speech, he directed the Department of Homeland Security to “lead and coordinate ongoing efforts across the federal government to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who have worked alongside us in Afghanistan for the past two decades, as they safely resettle in the United States.”

These efforts were called Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). The program was set up to allow Afghans – particularly those who might be targeted by the Taliban for working with allied forces during their 20 years in Afghanistan – to enter the United States for two years on parole without permanent immigration status. They then had to apply for other ways to stay in the country, such as asylum.

About 40% of those who came were eligible for special immigrant visas because of the great risks they took to help the United States, or were a family member of someone who helped the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The OAW was in place for about a year, then shifted to a longer-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. Nearly 200,000 Afghans have resettled in the United States under the two programs.

How were they controlled?

DHS said the Afghans were subjected to “rigorous” screening to ensure they did not pose a threat to national security. Some 400 U.S. agency personnel conducted the checks, which involved “biometric and biographic examinations performed by intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals,” the agency said.

In this Aug. 22, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, Afghan passengers board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during the evacuation from Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

MSgt. Donald R. Allen/US Air Force/AP

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MSgt. Donald R. Allen/US Air Force/AP

“This process includes reviewing the fingerprints, photos and other biometric and biographical data of each Afghan before they are authorized to travel to the United States,” the statement said.

After arriving in the United States, Afghans were transferred to U.S. military bases before being allowed into the community.

However, the program faced criticism from Republicans who said not all Afghans had been properly vetted. In 2024, the DHS Office of Inspector General released a report admitting certain deficiencies, including inaccuracies in data from some records of Afghans who had completed the program.

Another report was released in June of this year by the Department of Justice, examining the FBI’s role in OAW.

“According to the FBI, the need to immediately evacuate Afghans exceeded normal processes required to determine whether individuals attempting to enter the United States pose a threat to national security, which increased the risk that bad actors would attempt to exploit the expedited evacuation,” the report said.

He noted that 55 people evacuated from Afghanistan under the OAW were subsequently identified on terrorism watch lists. However, for the most part, the report concluded that the FBI did a good job flagging potential threats and that the majority of evacuees were not considered security risks.

What is the current situation of the Afghans?

After Wednesday’s shooting of National Guard members, President Trump denounced the OAW on social media, saying, “We must now re-examine every alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take every step necessary to ensure the expulsion of any alien from any country who does not belong here or who provides any benefit to our country.” »

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that “the Biden administration justified the transfer of the suspected shooter to the United States in September 2021 because of his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA.”

Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghan nationals.

But tens of thousands of Afghans are already in limbo. Worldwide, more than 40,000 Afghans are still actively seeking resettlement in the United States, and more than 10,000 of them have been approved by the U.S. government.

Hundreds of veterans urged the administration not to abandon those who fought alongside Americans during the war.