Afghan Migrant Charged With Election Day Plot Is Said to Have Worked for CIA

An Afghan national arrested over a planned “ISIS-inspired” attack on Election Day was working as a security guard for the CIA before coming to the United States on a special visa, NBC News reported Thursday.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested Monday on federal charges over an alleged plot to carry out the attack after conspiring with the terrorist organization and obtaining firearms and ammunition.
Sources told NBC that Tawhedi, who lives in Oklahoma City, had worked as a security guard in his home country for the CIA, before entering the U.S. in September 2021—shortly after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The unsealed criminal complaint showed the suspect was in the U.S. on a special immigrant visa and was currently on parole awaiting adjudication of his immigration status. His wife and one child were also living with him.
“Every Afghan being resettled in the United States undergoes a rigorous screening and vetting process, no matter which agency they worked with,” a U.S. official told Newsweek. “That process includes checking against a full range of relevant U.S. records and holdings. Mr. Tawhedi would not have been admitted to the United States had information of concern surfaced.”
The CIA declined to comment on the matter.
The DOJ told Newsweek that it could not comment beyond the criminal complaint, while a spokesperson for DHS repeated the stance that the suspect would have undergone strict vetting before entering the U.S.
According to the complaint, Tawhedi accessed online ISIS propaganda and donated to a charity linked to the group earlier this year, but it was not clear whether he was radicalized before or after entering the U.S. He went on to plot a violent attack on November 5 to interfere with the election and planned to die in the process.
The NBC report said that it is not entirely clear whether Tawhedi arrived on a special immigrant visa or through humanitarian parole. The former is granted only to those who previously worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government, while the other program is open to the general population.
While both entry methods require screening by U.S. immigration officials, Tawhedi would have been subjected to less rigorous vetting under humanitarian parole, officials told the outlet.
A report from the DHS Office of the Inspector General released a year after Tawhedi’s arrival in the U.S. showed that Biden administration officials lacked enough data to properly vet the thousands of new arrivals in the weeks after American forces abruptly withdrew from Afghanistan, raising security questions.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Americans needed to know that the suspect was “imported directly” by the Biden administration’s policies.
“It is clear they failed to properly vet all refugees, which poses a significant threat to national security,” Drummond said. “Tawhedi is one of many thousands sent to America after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“While it is indisputable that many Afghan refugees are law-abiding and deserve our gratitude for helping U.S. forces as we fought the Taliban, we face the unsettling prospect that Tawhedi is not the only terrorist brought here by our own government.”
Humanitarian parole has been used to allow migrants from countries with ongoing conflicts or environmental disasters to live in the U.S. with protections from deportation, pending further immigration proceedings.
The program is one of those targeted by Republicans during the election campaign. The GOP argues that they have allowed dangerous criminals into the country, although officials have said that new arrivals go through extensive vetting ahead of reaching the border.
Tawhedi is charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism. They carry maximum sentences of 20 and 15 years, respectively.
Responding to the arrest, Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) leaders Rick “Ozzie” Nelson and Francis Q. Hoang said there needed to be full vetting for Afghans with temporary protections.
“The planned attack was a serious threat, but it gives me great confidence that the vigilance and effectiveness of U.S. national security agencies, including the FBI, successfully blocked it before any harm could occur,” Nelson said in a statement.
“Due to the chaotic nature of the Afghanistan evacuation, some people may not have received the thorough vetting they would have under a formalized process. This is why Congress must come together and press for increased vetting of Afghan evacuees who are currently in the United States under temporary parole status.”
Hoang said that the Afghan Adjustment Act, introduced in July 2023, would require the “gold standard” of vetting for Afghan nationals.
“By implementing such standards, we can bolster our national security while upholding the commitments we made to our Afghan allies, including those who fought alongside U.S. servicemembers in the war against terror,” Hoang said.
Update 10/10/24, 3:13 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.