Battle Company troops work on a new outpost their platoon fought hard to establish after the Taliban had controlled this strategic high ground near several of their bases in Korengal Valley, Kunar province, Afghanistan on Sept. 2, 2007. Credit - Lynsey Addario—Getty Images
The suspect in the shooting oftwo National Guardmembers in Washington, D.C., had worked with an elite counterterrorism unit operated by the CIA, according to a veterans group that supports the United States military's former Afghan allies—but little is known about the group or its work.
Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was arrested in connection with the killing of Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and the wounding of Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, two West Virginia Guardsmen who were posted to the city as part of President Donald Trump'scrackdown on crime.
Read More:'I'm Afraid:' What U.S. Aid Cuts Mean for the Women of Afghanistan
Lakanwal was one of thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. military during the nearly 20-year war against the Taliban. Not everyone worked with the CIA, however.
AfghanEvac, a veterans group that supports America's former Afghan allies, told TIME that he worked for a CIA-backed "03" unit, one of several so-called "Zero Units" that received "direct U.S. intelligence and military support."
Here's what we know about those groups.
Extrajudicial killings
Lakanwal's particular unit "03", as it's described on his badge, was responsible for operations around the southern province of Kandahar and beyond. Images of his badge that circulated on social media after the attack included the words "Firebase Gecko," which was the name of the CIA and special forces' base in the southern region where the 03 unit was located, previously the compound for Taliban-founder and Afghanistan's first supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The CIA did not immediately respond to TIME's request for comment.
These units worked as Afghan intelligence and paramilitary forces, aiding U.S. troops in their years-long battle against the Taliban. They were trained by American special operations soldiers and carried out dangerous missions and night raids.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) hasaccusedthe units of extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate airstrikes, and several violations of international humanitarian law in the 2010s. Known for their night raids and clandestine missions, HRW said the units were referred to as "death squads" by diplomats in the nation. The CIA and the U.S. government have denied these claims.
A HRW report recounts an incident in which CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary forces raided the home of a staff member of an NGO in 2018.
"The forces arrived late at night at the family compound and separated the women from the men. They singled out the staff member's brother and took him to another part of the house. They shot him, leaving the body, and left with another male family member, whom the government later denied holding," the report said.
The same report, which does not specifically name the 03 unit but talks generally about CIA-backed Afghan forces, says those groups "often have U.S. special forces personnel deployed alongside them during kill-or-capture operations; these U.S. forces, primarily Army Rangers, have been seconded to the CIA."
It added: "Afghan paramilitary strike forces generally carry out operations with U.S. logistical support and are dependent on US.. intelligence and surveillance for targeting."
Kevin Maurer, a journalist who traveled with Special Forces in Afghanistan during the war, said the Zero Units were the stuff of legend.
"I covered the War in Afghanistan for 17 years, and the Zero Units were cloaked in legend," he wrotes forRolling Stone. "Zero Unit slots were coveted because of better pay, better training, and the chance to work alongside elite U.S. operators."
Operation Allies Welcome
Positions in these units were also coveted for their ability to help participants immigrate and resettle in the U.S. The Biden-era program, initially known as Operation Allies Welcome, was launched after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. It was set up to help Afghan nationals and their families who aided the U.S. war effort to resettle in the U.S. without permanent resident status.
When Kabul fell to the Taliban, the scene was chaotic as the U.S. attempted to extricate itself after 20 years of military presence, and many of the Afghan nationals who aided the U.S. during that time feared they would be targeted by Taliban forces.
Under Operation Allies Welcome, later renamed Enduring Welcome, the program admitted nearly 200,000 Afghans to the United States. About 40 percent of those were granted Special Immigrant Visas.
Shawn VanDiver, president of nonprofit AfghanEvac, released a statement after the shooting calling Enduring Welcome was "the secure, deliberate, interagency pipeline built to continue relocating vetted Afghan wartime allies after the evacuation," despite Trump's claims that the program allowed in people that were not "vetted."
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) archived page for the program says that all those admitted went through a "rigorous screening and vetting process," that was "multi-layered and ongoing," and included screenings from the DHS, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and more.
"It was the safest, most secure immigration pathway in U.S. history, combining multiple layers of vetting by DHS, DoD, FBI, and the intelligence community," VanDiver said. "It allowed the U.S. to continue fulfilling promises to Afghan wartime allies and is supported by both Republican and Democratic Members of Congress."
In response to the shooting, the Trump Administration announced that it wouldpause all asylumdecisions and stop issuing visas to people from Afghanistan, a decision that VanDiver says is collective punishment based on one person's actions.
The organization lamented the defunding or elimination of several Homeland Security programs it says were built to "identify threats, prevent radicalization, and support community-based interventions," including the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs, and mental-health, trauma, and reintegration programs for immigrants.
TIME contacted the DHS for comment.
"The administration curtailed the programs that were designed to prevent individuals in crisis from becoming violent, while simultaneously using one tragic outlier to justify broad restrictions on Afghan families who have no connection to this case," AfghanEvac wrote.
Contact usatletters@time.com.
