A Marine Force Reconnaissance soldier who served eight tours in Afghanistan told The Post Friday that some locals who fought the Taliban were “disloyal” to the US forces they partnered with — and that it “happens a lot more than people suspect.”
Chad Robichaux, 50, in an exclusive interview noted that said he’s been sounding the alarm about the risk of Afghan evacuees ever since the Biden administration’s botched bugout from the Middle East nation in 2021 — and how the US faces an elevated threat of terrorism as a result of poor refugee vetting.
Issues related to the August 2021 withdrawal of US forces and refugees have resurfaced this week as an Afghan national is facing charges for shooting two National Guard members — and killing one of them — in Washington, DC, on Thanksgiving eve as part of a suspected terror attack.
The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, served for at least a decade alongside US forces fighting the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS as part of an elite, CIA-backed paramilitary group known as the Kandahar Strike Force, according to US officials.
“When you talk about someone that’s, like, worked with the CIA or worked with special operations, just works through our troops,” Robichaux said, “you have to understand, like, when you go work in another country with local nationals, there’s an inherent risk to that. You have to depend on these people.”
“The vetting’s fast. You have to utilize local nationals. So there’s always gonna be a segment of the population that’s gonna be disloyal and … turn on you,” he added. “And it happens a lot more than people suspect.”
As a Marine in Afghanistan and later the leader of a “coalition effort” that evacuated locals from the nation amid the US pullout, Robichaux saw firsthand how quickly some of the US-backed Afghans were willing to sell them out — or “turn on” them and “shoot everybody in their team.”
“In my program, we had CIA-trained guys,” he recalled. “I slept on the side of mountains with this guy … and one other Afghan numerous times. I trusted him with my life. He turns on us, has a vehicle bomb driven into my house, has 12 of our teammates rolled up, captured and killed, and I got abducted by a foreign intelligence agency because of this guy.” --->READ MORE HERE
Investigators are probing if PTSD was a possible factor that fueled alleged DC shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s rampage, sources said Friday, given his time working in a CIA-backed Afghan unit that’s been accused of brutality.
Lakanwal, 29, served eight years in the Kandahar Strike Force known as one of the “Zero Units” during US operations in Afghanistan, and was “responsible and professional,” an ex-Afghan commanding officer told CBS News.
But he has grappled with mental health issues since landing in American in 2021 as part of “Operation Allies Welcome,” a Biden administration program that helped Afghans who fought against the Taliban flee the war-torn nation.
“He was known for being responsible and professional within his team and had strong anti-Taliban views,” said Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat, a former commanding general of the Afghan National Special Operations Corps.
The married father of five is accused of opening fire on two National Guard members Wednesday, killing one and critically wounding the other after driving from Washington state to carry out the possible terror attack, officials said.
A motive for the crazed midday ambush is unclear, but sources told The Post one aspect the feds are investigating is whether he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, that may have worsened during his time in the US.
Law enforcement is also exploring any possible foreign influence or a potential ideological grievance as part of a wide-ranging investigation, sources added.
Lakanwal came to America as the US was backing out of its war in Afghanistan, where the murder suspect was part of the Kandahar Strike Force, or “03” unit, sources said.
Sadat also said Lakanwal was part of unit’s operations team.
When he moved to the US in the face of threats from the Taliban, Sadat claimed Lakanwal was “generally calm and maintained a clean record, though he suffered from PTSD.” --->READ MORE HERE
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