The Taliban reacts to the November shooting in Washington. According to them, the attack, which was committed by a former soldier of the Afghan army, is not related to the Afghan government.
The November shooting of two US National Guardsmen in Washington has nothing to do with Afghanistan, the Afghan government’s Taliban movement said on Wednesday. The suspect in the shooting is an Afghan immigrant, TASR informs, according to an AFP report.
“The person who committed this act was trained by the Americans themselves,” Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki said in a video released by his office.
The first reaction of the Taliban
“This man was trained, employed and left Afghanistan in an illegal manner that did not meet international standards,” Muttaki continued. “So this incident is not about the Afghan government or the Afghan people,” he added.
This is the Taliban’s first response to the Nov. 26 attack near the White House. The accused is 29-year-old Afghan Ramhanullah Lakanwal, who shot 24-year-old sergeant Andrew Wolfe and 20-year-old soldier Sarah Beckstrom. A member of the National Guard succumbed to her injuries a day after the incident, and her colleague is in critical condition.
Program Operation Allies Welcome
Lakanwál pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and armed assault with intent to kill.
Acquaintances of the detained shooter claim that he served in an Afghan army unit supported by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and immigrated to the United States in September 2021. Federal prosecutors said it was part of Operation Allies Welcome. The goal was to help Afghans who cooperated with the Americans when the Taliban retook power in the country in 2021.
