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

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man suspected of shooting two National Guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday, was in the US after entering the country in 2021 under a program called Operation Ally’s Welcome. His intentions are still unknown.

Here’s a look at why the program was established and how Afghans entering the US are screened.

Welcome to Operation Allies Origins

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

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan took place during the tenure of former President Joe Biden, but it was earlier accelerated by the Trump administration, which signed a deal with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw after two decades in the country.

Announcing the end of the war on August 31, 2021, Biden described the US evacuation of Afghans as unprecedented and vowed to continue assisting those in danger.

“As far as Afghans are concerned, we and our allies have evacuated 100,000 of them by air,” he said in an address. “We will continue to work to help more people who are at risk leave the country. And we are still a long way from doing so.”

Two days before this address, 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 served with us in Afghanistan for the past two decades, as they safely resettle in the United States.”

Those efforts were called Operation Ally’s Welcome (OAW). The program was established to allow Afghans – particularly those who may have been targeted by the Taliban because of their 20 years working with allied forces in Afghanistan – to enter the US for two years on parole without permanent immigration status. They were then expected to apply for other means to remain in the country, such as asylum.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, about 40% of those who arrived were eligible for special immigrant visas because they had taken great risks to help the US, or were a family member of someone who had helped the US.

OAW existed for about a year and then transitioned to a long-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. About 200,000 Afghans resettled in the US under both programs.

How were they examined?

DHS said the Afghans were “rigorously” vetted to ensure they did not pose a threat to national security. About 400 personnel from US agencies conducted the investigation, which included “biometric and biographical checks conducted by intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals,” the agency said.

“This process includes reviewing each Afghan’s fingerprints, photographs, and other biometric and biographical data before they are cleared for travel to the United States,” it said.

After reaching the US, Afghans were subjected to further processing at US military bases before they were allowed to enter the community.

However, the program drew some criticism from Republicans, who said that not all Afghans were properly vetted. In 2024, the DHS Office of Inspector General issued a report that acknowledged some failures, including data inaccuracies in some files on Afghans who came through the program.

Another report was released by the Justice Department in June this year looking at the FBI’s role in OAW.

“According to the FBI, the need to immediately evacuate Afghans bypassed the normal processes needed to determine whether individuals attempting to enter the United States pose a threat to national security, increasing the risk that bad actors could try to take advantage of expedited evacuations,” the report said.

It said 55 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan under the OAW were later identified on terrorism watch lists. However, for the most part, the report concluded that the FBI had done a good job in identifying potential threats and that most of those evacuated were not considered a security risk.

What is the situation of Afghans now?

Following the shooting of National Guard members on Wednesday, President Trump lashed out against the OAW on social media, saying: “We must now, under Biden, re-vet every single alien entering our country from Afghanistan and we must take all necessary measures to remove any alien from any country who has or will benefit our country.”

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

Shortly after the shootings, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghan citizens.

But thousands of Afghans are already in limbo. Worldwide, more than 40,000 Afghans are still actively attempting to resettle in the US, of whom more than 10,000 have been approved for relocation by the US government.

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