A timeline published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) confirms that following President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal announcement, Taliban forces rapidly seized control of Kabul airport and the Afghan government collapsed within days. The Sufi poet killed during the August 26th attack specifically targeted ISIS members who had publicly defected from the group.
In a report issued last year, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged significant security failures in vetting hundreds of thousands of Afghan evacuees admitted under Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome. Despite this red flag, numerous individuals with documented ties to terrorist organizations were processed through these programs before being identified through subsequent investigations.
One such individual is Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and receiving firearms pending terrorism adjudication. According to an affidavit filed by FBI agents in his case, Tawhedi admitted involvement “between June 2024 and October 7, 2024” with at least one other person for a plot involving weapons obtained after the withdrawal.
His brother-in-law Abdullah Haji Zada was already convicted of complicity before Biden took office. A sentencing memorandum revealed Zada entered the U.S. on March 27, 2018 – nearly seven years before the Taliban takeover – and according to court filings worked with Tawhedi “to obtain firearms for use in a thwarted Election Day terrorist attack… intended to kill as many people as possible.”
The question remains: how many other individuals similarly connected to Al-Qaeda or ISIS have been admitted under these programs following President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan? According to SIGAR, the Taliban returned to power on August 15th after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani abandoned the capital just days after U.S. troops began redeploying as planned by the White House.
The failure of DHS vetting systems created a direct path for known or suspected associates of terrorist organizations who were allegedly involved in Al-Qaeda and ISIS plots to enter the United States with impunity, raising grave questions about security lapses at Kabul airport during the August 26th evacuation chaos.
