LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – More than four years after a harrowing escape from Afghanistan in 2021 asKabul fell to the Taliban, Tamim Bedar finally got his green card in March.
Bedar, 45, who spent years supporting U.S. goals during America's 20-year war in Afghanistan, has since built a life in Kentucky: Aiding other refugees, seeing his kids thrive in school and working on a master's degree.
His aging parents, who joined him in 2022, were granted asylum and are awaiting approval on their own green cards – further securing his family roots in a peaceful new home here even as his brother remains trapped in Afghanistan.
But now the ground is shifting underneath his Afghan community and others like it around the nation in the wake of theNov. 26 shooting in Washington, D.C. of two national guard members.
The suspect is an Afghan national and that revelation has led to policy changes, political fallout and anxiety for Bedar and others.
Across the country, shaken Afghan communities have strongly condemned the shooting while pleading to not let one person's violence define a community.
"There's a lot of fear within the community that there will be collective punishment because of the act of one individual," Bedar said.
The suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is one of the more than 190,000 Afghans who resettled in the United States since 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome or Enduring Welcome, programs created by the Biden administration for Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover.
Authorities say it's still unclear why the suspect took aim at the patrol in an attack that killed West Virginia National Guard memberSarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded guard memberAndrew Wolfe, 24.
Vigil held for slain National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom
In response, PresidentDonald Trumpand his administration halted Afghan immigration requests, called for re-examining asylum cases approved under the Biden administration and ordered a review of green cards issued to citizens of 19 countries – including Afghanistan – that were part of a June travel ban.
"The Trump Administration is now actively reexamining all of the Afghans imported into the country byJoe Biden," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Dec. 1.
Shawn VanDiver, a veteran who is head of the nonprofit AfghanEvac, has argued that the shooting is being used as justification for already planned restrictions on immigration while causing strains on allies and their families who fought alongside U.S. troops.
"Our community is seeing a surge in fear — people asking whether they should move, whether they should show up to check-ins, whether a traffic stop or a paperwork glitch could upend everything," he wrote in a Substack post.
More:As a young Afghan interpreter, he helped a US officer. Then he needed help getting out
Seeking asylum in the U.S.
Lakanwal moved to the United States in 2021 as part of a Biden-era evacuation program for Afghans who worked with the American military, during which time he would have been vetted by U.S. officials. He was part of a CIA-backed local unit in Afghanistan,CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.They were alsoknown as "Zero Units."
He applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and other media outlets.
Lakanwalhad mental health issues and was upset about the casualties the unit caused, a childhood friend identified only as Muhammad, told the New York Times.
A community advocate believed he was suffering from PTSD because of his work in Afghanistan and became increasingly worried because of his depressive and erratic behavior. The advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, according to emails obtained by USA TODAY. The emails were first reported by Associated Press.
In Salem, Oregon, Nasirullah Safi, an Afghan who worked as a combat interpreter for the military before coming to the U.S. and working for a resettlement agency, said he knows some former Afghan fighters from similar units who have battled PTSD.
"They carry some heavy, heavy trauma with them," he said, which for some came atop struggles with a new culture, language and challenges supporting their families.
Safi, who haswritten about his experiences, said the suspect's nationality sparked sharp anxiety in his community.
On Thanksgiving Day, he said a handful of resettled Afghans were so shaken – in part by angry social media posts – they weren't comfortable working rideshare jobs and came to his home to collect themselves.
Afghanistan: America's longest war
He, too, was heartbroken to learn the suspect's identity and the fallout on the larger community.
"This is our forever home, and we love this country. We fought for this country, and we will do it again in a heartbeat, no hesitation," he said, which made reading such anti-Afghan sentiment painful.
In Boise Idaho, Yasmin Aguilar has lived for 25 years since resettling from Afghanistan. Since the U.S. pullout, the dangers for relatives stuck in Pakistan have grown. After Trump took office, he halted most refugee processing.
The current rhetoric makes that reunion seem like an increasingly distant possibility.
Meanwhile, she said some in her local Afghan community are rattled by the backlash, asking: "Should we go work, or will we be taken?....Should we send our kids to school or not?"
Online, Aguilar pleaded for people not to equate the shooting suspect with all Afghans. One commenter's reply: Go home.
"It's a scary time for everyone," she said.
In Houston, home to about 15,000 Afghans, those with pending asylum or green-card applications were increasingly unsure what's ahead – while others worry that vetted immigration statuses once considered safe might be yanked away.
Ahmadullah Sediqi, a former military interpreter from 2010 to 2014, and community advocate there, said the shooting was "an act of terror everyone condemns."
He said refugees and those who come on special-immigrant visas like himself require substantial vetting. Now, those waiting for years for their applications for various statuses, such as asylum or permanent residence, were unsure what would happen.
There are an estimated 265,000 Afghan visa cases pending, including about 180,000 in the SIV or special immigrant visas for those who directly worked with US forces, nowfacing an indefinite freeze, according to AfghanEvac.
And if they get deported for some reason, where will they go? Many fear reprisals or killings in the hands of the Taliban.
"We were fighting with them for the past 20 years. Then how should we go to the enemy and say, 'Hey, we are here,'" Sediqi said.
More:Tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left behind. Why have so few reached US safety?
A lot of questions ahead for Afghan community
Back in Louisville, Bedar believes he would be relatively safe if his green card was reviewed because of his past and public record of work for aid and development organizations supporting the U.S. mission, including the U.S.-based Asia Foundation and the Danish Agency for International Development Assistance.
Under various roles, he helped advise top Afghan government officials and worked on issues from reintegrating militia fighters to reconstruction.
Whether his parents will get their green cards approved, or when, he's not sure – or who in the community might get a letter from the government about a status they once thought was secure.
For now: It's a lot of question marks, he said, for a lot of people.
Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Chris Kenning is a national correspondent. Reach him at ckenning@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:DC shooting leaves fear, anxiety in Afghan communities across US
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – More than four years after a harrowing escape from Afghanistan in 2021 asKabul fell to the Taliban...
