Rahmanullah Lakanwal — the 29-year-old Afghan national who shot two members of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C., today — was not only a former Afghan Army soldier but reportedly served in the elite Afghan National Army Commando Corps, a direct-action unit that fought alongside U.S. Special Forces against the Taliban.
Fox News further reports that Lakanwal worked with multiple U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan, including the CIA, specifically through the Kandahar Strike Force (KSF), also known as NDS-03. This unit operated outside both U.S. and Afghan military command structures, answering directly to the CIA and conducting covert counterterrorism missions — including night raids and targeted assassinations against Taliban and al-Qaeda personnel.
The KSF, along with other CIA-backed paramilitary groups under the National Directorate of Security, became known for high-risk operations often accompanied by accusations of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings against civilians suspected of Taliban loyalty.
