The C.I.A. diligently helped Afghans who had served in agency-sponsored units, like the man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, navigate the U.S. immigration system, according to former American officials familiar with the process.
The C.I.A. has not commented on the vetting process that brought the man, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, to the United States, and the former U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity given classified nature of C.I.A. partner units. But the agency’s director, John Ratcliffe, has faulted the Biden administration’s vetting of Mr. Lakanwal and said he “should have never been allowed to come here.” Mr. Lakanwal is accused of killing one of the National Guard members and critically wounding the other in the attack on Wednesday, just blocks from the White House.
Mr. Lakanwal was granted asylum in April, during the Trump administration, but it is not clear when the C.I.A. might have offered its endorsement of him.
The C.I.A. routinely wrote classified letters to add to immigration files to help members of their partner forces in Afghanistan win approval for asylum or parole claims, one of the officials said. American officials believed that the Afghans who had worked with the agency would be in particular danger if they remained behind under a Taliban-run government. The C.I.A.-backed units were responsible for the deaths and detention of Taliban leaders and fighters.
One former American official said the agency was diligent in advocating the immigration cases of all the people it worked with, and had a dedicated team to help them settle in the United States.
The agency also kept extensive biometric data, including retinal scans, on Afghans who served in their units, information that helped identify their partners among the thousands of Afghans who fled the country, according to former officials.
To join the partner forces, at first called Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams and later Zero Units, Afghans needed to get current force members to vouch for them, putting the reputation of their tribe or family on the line. As Afghans moved up in rank, they continued to be vetted regularly.
During the Afghanistan war, the C.I.A. also conducted polygraphs on members of its partner units to identify potential Taliban allies or those with anti-American sentiments, former officials said.
That intense vetting process in Afghanistan — and the work the units did evacuating people to the Kabul International Airport after the regular army collapsed in the face of the Taliban takeover — gave the agency confidence that people who had fought in their units posed no danger to Americans.
Human rights groups frequently criticized the C.I.A.-backed units, raising questions of their oversight, their use of force and the civilian casualties caused by their operations. But the C.I.A. has defended its work, disputing the allegations against the units and arguing that they were the best disciplined and most effective Afghan military force during the war.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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