Irrational Jump to Blame Afghans

Donald Trump’s premature declaration of the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington an “act of terror” and issuing an immediate halt of all Afghani immigration is racist, partisan and petulant.

More to the point, Trump’s instant show of power even before any investigation of the motives of the identified 29-year-old Afghani immigrant as the shooter is unlikely to protect any Guardsman or Washington resident. Trump again is using untargeted blame as a weapon.

Shock, even anger, over what appeared to be an ambush shooting is expectable, but the shooter’s immediate capture means that he already will be facing serious charges. It means that  local and state authorities will be seeking what prompted someone brought into this country as a wartime ally and granted asylum to this crime.

But Trump jumped quickly, declaring the shooting a terrorist act, ordering a review of all Afghani individuals admitted to the U.S., halting all Afghani immigration, and surging another 500 Guardsmen to Washington as some statement of, we-won’t-back-down muscularity. Along the way, he tagged the admission of the shooter after the chaotic exodus from Afghanistan on Joe Biden without noting that it was the Trump administration itself that granted Rahmanullah Lakanwal asylum status in April.

Deciding that because the shooter, now described by the same Homeland Security that granted asylum as “a criminal alien from Afghanistan,” that all Afghans are suspect is openly racist.

Each Trump action here seems ineffective and racially punitive. Had Trump announced a halt on immigration of all men or all 29-year-olds or anyone living in Bellingham, Wash., the suspect’s reported home, the conclusion would be that Trump was nuts.

How about focusing the immigration focus on people with guns? How about looking at why 2,375 National Guardsmen remain in Washington with so little crime duty that they are raking leaves on the Mall? What exactly is sending an additional 500 Guardsmen on a holiday weekend going to do to provide protection for those already patrolling tourist areas while carrying guns?

Blaming Afghans

The suspect came into the country in August 2021, as part of the rescue effort following the Taliban’s retaking of power in Afghanistan. Amid the chaos of withdrawal, the Biden administration organized the hurried departure of 100,000 Afghan nationals who had been helpful to U.S. military efforts, called Operation Allies Welcome.

In blaming Biden, Trump neatly forgets that it was he who had set a withdrawal deadline with the Taliban, forcing Biden’s hand. Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for the chaotic end and the death of 13 Americans in the exodus.

At the time, the same voices now behind a halt to immigration were saying we should have brought more allies out. Those airlifted away were in the United States on two-year grants of parole, not permanent status. Like special visa programs, the asylum program afforded to this man requires additional background checks.

Lakanwal had worked with U.S. units and the CIA in Kandahar, according to John Ratcliffe, CIA director.

Trump’s recent curbs on immigration will leave many in limbo, stranded in third countries or forced into hiding in Afghanistan. Taliban officials have said they are ready to discuss repatriation of Afghan nationals with the United States and other countries.

Trump vowed to redouble deportation efforts and called for new scrutiny of Afghanis brought to the U.S. in 2021. “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan,” he said.

Whatever the case, blaming an entire class of Afghanis, including those who helped keep U.S. troops alive, for the still-alleged acts of a single immigrant is irrational. For that matter, concluding that one ambush shooting by one guy means Washington generally is unsafe is an unwarranted leap in logic.

Determining a motive – this suspect is said to be uncooperative with authorities – before blaming his ethnicity would seem the only reasonable action for a leader. Trump just showed us again the limits of his leadership.

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