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Afghan withdrawal refugees had ‘free rein’ on US bases in 2021, sources said, leaving in Ubers untracked
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The tragic Wednesday shooting of two West Virginia National Guardsmen in Washington, and President Donald Trump’s call to reexamine green card holders from «countries of concern» including Afghanistan, was predated by a warning from Fox News host Laura Ingraham about the Biden administration’s announcement amid the withdrawal that they were vetting evacuees on the «back end.»
The identification of a suspect has raised concerns again about the chaotic 2021 Kabul evacuation and previous reports of misconduct by evacuees on U.S. military bases.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, originally of Afghanistan and once part of a CIA-linked team fighting the Taliban, was identified as the main suspect in the shooting, which has since claimed the life of West Virginia National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom of Nicholas County, West Virginia.
On Friday, «Ingraham Angle» host Laura Ingraham told Fox News Digital she and other conservatives have been sounding the alarm on failures of Biden-era vetting following the withdrawal ever since the Fox News host exclusively broke the story in September 2021 that members of Congress brought concerns over chaos at Army bases holding refugees directly to the State Department.
TRUMP ORDER PUTS THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN ALLIES WAITING FOR US RESETTLEMENT IN LIMBO
«Soon after the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal, it was obvious that their intent was to bring as many Afghans into the U.S. as possible,» Ingraham wrote in an email Friday.
«Conservatives, including myself, raised serious concerns about the cost, the difficulty of assimilation and potential threats posed to no avail,» she said. «The Biden team didn’t care.
«We kept hearing, ‘But we promised,’ — Americans didn’t promise anything — and they shouldn’t be forced to keep paying for previous presidents’ horrendous mistakes.»
In September 2021, Ingraham reported exclusively that a top Republican demanded answers from then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the reports out of Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, depicting chaos and unvetted, unaccounted for evacuees.
As Ingraham pointed out, Blinken had said the State Department tried to «get as many people out as fast as we can, while we had the airport functioning. We focused on doing just that, and we’re doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States.»
«That’s your Secretary of State admitting that he didn’t care about vetting these folks before we brought them to U.S. Soil,» Ingraham said at the time.
«And if you thought they would be securely held on US military bases, well, think again.»
Then-Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee exclusively provided Ingraham with a letter he wrote demanding answers from Blinken.
«I’ve recently been made aware from someone at Fort Pickett, Virginia, that Afghan evacuees basically have free rein of the complex and have even been allowed to leave, despite not having completed the vetting process,» Green wrote.
VETERANS GROUPS URGE TRUMP ADMIN TO CONTINUE AFGHAN ALLY SUPPORT PROGRAM AMID BUDGET CUT CONCERNS
«My sources made shocking allegations, including multiple incidents of sexual assault and several evacuees have been picked up by Uber drivers without any permission from authorities or being cleared to leave.»
Green called upon his own combat service in Afghanistan as an Army special operations flight surgeon to request confirmation or denial of the allegations made by the source, telling Blinken the reports pose an obvious national security risk.
At the time, Ingraham contrasted Green’s letter with Blinken’s public statements. During a news conference at the time, Blinken said that in the administration’s effort to get «as many people out (of Afghanistan) as fast as we can, while we had the (Hamid Karzai) Airport functioning, we focused on doing just that.
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Evacuees pack a Boeing jet from Afghanistan in 2021. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
«We’re doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States,» Blinken told reporters at the time.
«If you thought they would be securely held on U.S. military bases, think again,» Ingraham said of Green’s revelation.
DOZENS OF HOUSE LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND FUNDING AFGHAN VISA PROGRAM AS TRUMP VOWS MAJOR SPENDING CUTS
Ingraham added Friday in comments to Fox News Digital that Afghan evacuees from Biden’s withdrawal not only come from a culture hostile to Western values, but they are often «all too dependent on the U.S. taxpayers to support them and their families.»
«This must end — (it’s) yet another calamitous Biden mistake President Trump is forced to address,» she said.
In his discussion with Ingraham after the withdrawal, Green, a member of and later chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee who left public life earlier in 2025, said he was hearing similar reports from bases beyond Fort Pickett, Virginia.
NAVAL OFFICER SENTENCED IN AFGHAN SIV BRIBERY SCHEME AMID SCRUTINY OF VISA PROGRAM AFTER TERROR PLOT EXPOSED
«DOD is getting its directions on how to handle these situations by the State Department,» Green claimed. «And the State Department is failing to give them adequate information. They’re letting them leave. They can catch an Uber and actually leave the base. They don’t know exactly how many are even there.
«So, they can’t account for someone if they don’t return.»
Green said officials warned evacuees that if they leave the base their visa processing would stop but that such a warning appeared to have little effect on those who may have left.
JD VANCE CLASHES WITH CBS ANCHOR OVER UNVETTED REFUGEES: ‘I DON’T WANT THAT PERSON IN MY COUNTRY’
«Then you get the shocking allegations of harassment and sexual assault, and it’s just horrific,» he said.
At the time, Ingraham reported many of the evacuees on the planes out of Kabul came with no personal documentation at all, and she questioned how any «vetting» could be done of people who couldn’t begin to prove their own identity.
When contacted by Fox News at the time, the Biden State Department said, as a general rule, it did not comment on communications with Congress.
HEGSETH ORDERS PENTAGON TO LAUNCH COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW INTO ‘CATASTROPHIC’ 2021 AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL
Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary at the time, told CBS News that the administration was dealing with «very few» evacuees who had given «any cause for concern.»
CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell followed up by pressing the secretary whether he could guarantee none of «thousands» of prisoners released by the Taliban would be coming to America.
«I can guarantee you that we are doing everything possible to make sure that they don’t,» Mayorkas said.
FOUR YEARS AFTER ABBEY GATE, VETERANS WHO SAVED CIVILIANS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY
By one year after the Afghanistan withdrawal, lawmakers were still focusing on fallout from the apparent chaos.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said on Fox News in September 2022 he had heard similar reports out of Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in his home state as Green had out of Virginia.
«Should it be any surprise to the American people that they were misled? This is no different than the Southern border when Secretary Mayorkas came before the (House) Judiciary Committee and lied to us and said the border is secure. A year ago, President Biden said ‘inflation is transitory’. And now, a year later, we find out that they did not vet them,» Tiffany said.
HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE SAYS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY BLUNDERS’ OF PAST 4 YEARS HAVE EMBOLDENED TERRORISTS
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Tiffany said he was at Fort McCoy in Tomah, Wisconsin, when the first 2,000 refugees arrived there.
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«None of them had gone through the SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) process,» he said. «I asked about it.
«People could walk right off from the base without any authorization from the commanding officer. We sounded the warning bell on that. And now, finally, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security is talking about this and saying this is a threat to national security and to our local communities.»
afghanistan,terrorism,military,state department,national security,ingraham angle
INTERNACIONAL
Iran president vows defiance as protests build against regime amid US military build up
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Anti-government protests are resurging across Iran, with videos showing students chanting slogans against the regime as nuclear negotiations with the United States are set to resume on Thursday.
A video translated by Reuters showed demonstrators shouting «We’ll fight, we’ll die, we’ll reclaim Iran,» reflecting growing anger towards the country’s leadership.
The renewed unrest follows months of frustration over economic hardship, repression and previous crackdowns, placing additional domestic pressure on the regime as talks unfold. Analysts say the convergence of protests at home, military pressure abroad and a stalled diplomatic track has hardened rhetoric on both sides rather than pushing them toward compromise.
Military members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in western Tehran, Iran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Iranian regime, meanwhile, is striking a defiant tone. President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would «not bow down» to pressure tied to nuclear negotiations, warning that external coercion would not change Iran’s stance, according to Al Jazeera.
His remarks come ahead of a new round of U.S.–Iran talks set for Thursday in Geneva, confirmed by Oman, which is mediating the discussions. The negotiations aim to address Tehran’s nuclear program amid rising regional tensions, though major disputes remain over enrichment limits, sanctions relief and the scope of any deal.
In a February speech analyzed by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out abandoning uranium enrichment and rejected U.S. demands to include Iran’s ballistic missile program and regional proxy activity in negotiations.
The analysis, authored by FDD research analyst Janatan Sayeh and Iran Program Senior Director Behnam Ben Taleblu, noted that Khamenei has escalated attacks on Washington’s leadership, calling President Donald Trump a «criminal» for backing Iranian protests and circulating rhetoric likening him to a tyrant.
US POSITIONS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, STRIKE PLATFORMS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN TALKS SHIFT TO OMAN
An exercise aimed at assessing readiness and rehearsing responses to security threats comes during a second round of talks. ( Press Office of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the United States has expanded its military presence in the Middle East while signaling force remains an option. The deployments have shaped both the tone and urgency of the negotiations, reinforcing that diplomacy is unfolding under the shadow of potential escalation.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff warned Saturday that Iran could be «a week away» from having «industrial-grade bomb-making material,» citing enrichment levels he said are approaching weapons capability.
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Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the public on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, according to Iranian state television in Tehran, Iran, on February 9, 2026. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«It’s up to 60%,» Witkoff said. «They’re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.» He made the remarks on «My View with Lara Trump,» describing the situation as dangerous and accusing Iran of violating President Trump’s «zero enrichment» red line.
U.S. officials have warned that failure to reach an agreement could trigger serious consequences, while Tehran has signaled readiness to retaliate if attacked, reinforcing the sense that negotiations are taking place under intense pressure.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Tras la muerte de “El Mencho“, el líder del Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, la presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum, tomó una profunda bocanada de aire fresco frente a la persistente intimidación de Donald Trump y alejó el fantasma de una intervención estadounidense contra el narcotráfico.
El mensaje que subió desde Ciudad de México a Washington es fuerte. La mandataria izquierdista se alejó de la política conocida como “Abrazos, no balazos” llevada adelante por su mentor y antecesor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Leé también: Así fue la caída de “El Mencho”, el capo narco mexicano: el seguimiento a una de sus amantes, la pista clave
Ahora, la lucha es frontal desde el poder federal, en un giro total de la política de seguridad del país, tras un año de fuertes presiones de Trump que llegaron no solo a la aplicación de aranceles, sino hasta amenazas de una intervención militar contra los distintos carteles del narcotráfico.
“El abatimiento de El Mencho es un hecho histórico que marca un precedente de seguridad en México, en la política de seguridad de Sheinbaum y también en la de Estados Unidos”, dijo a TN el analista mexicano y director de El Medio Importa, Mauricio González.
Aumento de la cooperación y adiestramiento a cargo de marines
La muerte de Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”, se produjo en un contexto de fuerte aumento de la cooperación bilateral en materia de seguridad que incluyó la presencia de marines estadounidenses en el terreno.
El Senado mexicano autorizó el 11 de este mes la entrada de 19 efectivos del cuerpo de los Navy Seals que participaron cuatro días después en actividades militares conjuntas de adiestramiento con las Fuerzas Armadas mexicanas. La presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum (Foto: REUTERS/Raquel Cunha)
El objetivo apuntó a “mejorar las capacidades de las Fuerzas de Operaciones Especiales” que combaten al narcotráfico en el terreno.
Pero el éxito del operativo que acabó con el reinado de El Mencho se vio opacado por la ola de violencia desatada por el cartel en varios estados del país. Ahora, el gobierno de Sheinbaum deberá demostrar capacidad de gestión para evitar una nueva oleada de violencia como la que sacudió el domingo vastas zonas de Jalisco y otras regiones.
“Para Estados Unidos, la captura de “El Mencho” es un éxito en sí mismo, algo que Trump podrá cacarear a sus votantes. Para México, la captura solo será un éxito si mejora la percepción de seguridad de los mexicanos”, dijo la politóloga mexicana Viri Ríos en el diario Milenio de Jalisco.
Para la analista, “lo más relevante del abatimiento (…) no es el operativo en sí mismo, sino si el gobierno está preparado para contener la violencia que podría detonarse luego de la muerte de El Mencho”.
Leé también: Ante la ola de violencia en México, la Cancillería argentina recomienda no viajar a Jalisco
El director editorial del periódico, Oscar Cedillo, destacó el giro estratégico de la política del gobierno federal contra el narcotráfico.
“El contexto político también cuenta: el operativo ocurrió días después de que el Senado autorizara el ingreso de militares estadounidenses para capacitación y en el marco de la visita del secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio. La intervención directa de tropas extranjeras sigue descartada, pero el intercambio de inteligencia es una realidad operativa. Incluso el silencio inusual de Donald Trump sugiere coordinación previa. En seguridad, el silencio comunica“, afirmó.
Para Cedillo, esta fue una “victoria significativa que envía un mensaje hacia adentro y a Washington. ´Abrazos, no balazos´ fue una apuesta política para desescalar la violencia desde una lógica social; la detención y abatimiento de El Mencho representa una afirmación directa del poder estatal. Habrá que entender qué momento histórico exige qué instrumento. El país pasó del humanismo discursivo al realismo estratégico“. indicó.
Sin presencia militar estadounidense, pero con más cooperación de inteligencia
En su rueda de prensa matutina, la presidente Sheinbaum descartó la presencia de tropas estadounidenses en el operativo. “No hay participación en la operación de fuerzas de Estados Unidos, lo que hay es mucho intercambio de información”, dijo.
Para Mauricio González, “este tipo de golpes van a reforzar la participación y la coordinación” de Estados Unidos en la lucha contra el narco.
“Pero de ahora en adelante viene el reacomodo de fuerzas del Cartel y como se reestructura la sucesión. Cuando se atrapa o muere el líder de estos grupos, en tres segundos ya hay un sucesor”, dijo. Caso contrario, estalla la violencia por el control de la plaza.
México, Narcotráfico, Claudia Sheinbaum
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The Trump administration is escalating pressure on Senate Democrats as negotiations to end the partial government shutdown remain at a standstill.
The partial government shutdown, which is only affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), entered its second week on Monday. So far, the impacts of the shutdown have been minimal, but the pain could be coming soon as the agency activates «emergency measures» while the shutdown drags on.
DHS announced over the weekend it would be making tweaks to some Transportation Security Administration (TSA) functions that could lead to longer wait times for passengers and lawmakers alike.
The Department of Homeland Security enacted emergency measures over the weekend, tweaking some TSA functions as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats remained dug in on their positions. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
«Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security,» DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. «The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians.»
The agency announced that, for now, TSA PreCheck would stay operational after a back-and-forth over whether to continue the program during the shutdown. The program is used by more than 20 million people to speed up wait times at airports across the country, according to the agency. However, courtesy escorts for members of Congress have been suspended.
«At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,» a spokesperson for the agency told Fox News Digital. «As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly.»
DHS SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS WITHOUT PAY, WHAT HAPPENS TO AIRPORTS AND DISASTER RESPONSE
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the agency would begin emergency measures over the weekend as the government shutdown dragged into its second week. (Ash Ponders/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Much of the real pain that could come from a prolonged shutdown will have to do with TSA agents missing paychecks. That became a major factor during the historic 43-day shutdown last fall that saw wait times skyrocket and flight cancellations compound by the day.
Some Republicans believe it will take that kind of disruption to get Democrats to reverse course on their current position.
«Nothing’s going to happen here until flights get shut down, right? When TSA workers stop showing up,» Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. «When the Democrats, you know, can’t fly, then they’ll give in. I mean, they don’t care, because they’re being paid.»
Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the White House are gridlocked in their ongoing back-and-forth over a compromise to fund the agency.
DEMOCRATS RISK FEMA DISASTER FUNDING COLLAPSE AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS DAY 5
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Senate Democrats wouldn’t take the shutdown seriously until flight delays and cancellations started to stack up. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Schumer and his caucus want more stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following deadly shootings in Minnesota amid immigration operations. The White House has so far been willing to entertain some of the changes they’ve proposed, but Republicans have drawn red lines on imposing judicial warrant requirements and unmasking agents, among other provisions.
That means a bulk of the agency is going without funding as both sides continue to butt heads, given that ICE and some immigration enforcement functions are flush with funding from the «big, beautiful bill.»
The tweaks to TSA are not the only steps DHS has taken to implement emergency measures during the shutdown.
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Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has halted Global Entry at airports and diverted agents to instead help process travelers.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also stopped all public assistance for ongoing disasters, paused non-emergency work, halted non-disaster-related activities and restricted personnel travel to activities «strictly necessary to respond to active disasters and life-safety emergencies,» according to the agency.
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