Federal prosecutors have charged Rahmanullah Lakanwal with murder, assault, and multiple firearms offenses following last week’s shooting that left two National Guard members wounded near the White House.

The charges were detailed in court filings cited by The Washington Post and submitted by the office of US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.

Authorities say the attack took place when a gunman armed with a revolver opened fire on Guard personnel stationed close to the presidential residence, striking a 20-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man. The shooting triggered an immediate security lockdown across central Washington as emergency responders moved in to secure the area.

Federal officials reacted sharply. US Attorney General Pamala Bondi said on Thursday that prosecutors would pursue the death penalty should either victim succumb to their injuries.

By the end of the day, President Donald Trump announced that the female officer, Sarah Beckstrom, had died in the hospital, while her colleague, Wolfe, remained in critical condition.

Policy Whiplash

What began as a localized security incident quickly evolved into a national political flashpoint.

Within hours of the shooting, the administration moved to freeze all asylum decisions for Afghan nationals and launched an extensive review of green-card applications and previously approved asylum cases.

Officials described the restrictions as necessary safeguards, but the measures effectively placed thousands of recent Afghan arrivals in legal uncertainty, marking one of the most sweeping immigration responses to a single criminal case in recent years.

Precarious Asylum

Lakanwal’s own immigration trajectory reflects this broader tension. He arrived in the country in 2021 under a humanitarian program following the US withdrawal, later securing asylum in 2024.

Before fleeing Afghanistan, he served in an elite paramilitary squad that operated alongside US forces during the war. Many members of these units, often deployed in high-risk night raids or counterterrorism operations, were exposed to intense violence, secrecy, and trauma, conditions consistent with the broader environment produced during the two-decade invasion.

Although he had legal protection in the US, he had not yet secured permanent residency, a stage many evacuees describe as the most uncertain period in their resettlement, as they wait for decisions that determine whether they can rebuild stable lives.

Forced Precarity

Advocacy organizations say the new policy shifts risk, deepening that instability, turning an already fragile process into one defined by fear, delay, and the possibility of revocation.

The situation has drawn criticism from migrant advocates, who argue that Afghans are now being punished by the very government whose two-decade intervention devastated their country and forced millions to flee. They say that instead of providing stability after a war the United States helped prolong, the new restrictions place evacuees like Lakanwal in a cycle of uncertainty created by policies far beyond their control.

Afghanistan was subjected to a two-decade NATO-led invasion driven by counterterrorism claims, geopolitical ambitions, and strategic interests in the region, an intervention that killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced millions into displacement.

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