Q&A: Afghan National Charged With Election Day Terror Plot

Q&A: Afghan National Charged With Election Day Terror Plot

With U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley

Q: What concerns did you raise immediately after the Biden-Harris administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan?

A: The Biden-Harris administration's disorganized and disastrous exit from Afghanistan three years ago resulted in the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. service members by a suicide bombing. The images of Afghan civilians jumping onto and falling from a departing U.S. military aircraft underscored sheer chaos at the airport in Kabul. Like many Americans, it reminded me of the desperate 1975 retreat in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. The botched departure in Afghanistan left behind American citizens and sophisticated American military equipment. It left millions of Afghan women and girls under the thumb of a murderous, suppressive Taliban regime and left a stain on American leadership, sowing seeds of doubt among our allies and partners, and sending a message of weakness to aggressive dictators like Vladimir Putin. Then, the Biden-Harris administration made matters even worse by failing to take the time to thoroughly vet Afghans applying to come to the United States. This put more American lives at risk.

The Biden-Harris administration was green-lighting evacuees in a matter of hours or days. While the U.S. has an obligation to protect thousands of Afghans who helped American forces, there are serious questions how those who were evacuated were selected. The screening process exists for a reason: to protect Americans from bad actors seeking to enter the United States. Within a day of the U.S. leaving Afghanistan, I wrote the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security to demand answers. For years, I've pressed the Biden-Harris administration to do its job and come clean about deficient vetting of tens of thousands of Afghans evacuated by U.S. forces. According to a pair of internal watchdog reports from the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, the administration's failure to sufficiently screen Afghan evacuees raises serious public safety concerns. That's why I've tirelessly pushed the Biden-Harris administration to tighten up the evacuee resettlement process and answer to independent congressional oversight inquiries, the linchpin of our system of checks and balances, on behalf of the American people. For the last three years, I've sounded alarms that individuals who may pose serious threats to national security are setting up shop on American soil.

Q: Who did the FBI arrest just one month before Election Day?

A: According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal complaint, the FBI recently arrested an Afghan national who had secured a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) to enter the United States during the same time as the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and is currently on parole status pending his immigration proceedings. Now in federal custody, the individual allegedly planned an Election Day terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS). According to the DOJ's complaint, the FBI found pro-ISIS propaganda on the individual's devices and communications saying, "[a]fter that we will begin our duty, God willing, with the help of God, we will get ready for the election day."

The good news is the FBI stopped this terrorist plot; the bad news is it exposes the clear and present danger created by the Biden-Harris administration's failure to follow proper screening processes that are in place to prevent terrorists from getting to America in the first place. Since the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 97,000 evacuees have been admitted into the United States. According to the Defense Department Inspector General, at least 50 Afghan evacuees paroled into the United States were later identified as having potentially significant security concerns that would disqualify them for parole or admission onto U.S. military bases used as temporary housing for evacuees. When I questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray about whether the FBI knows where these evacuees are located, he admitted the FBI doesn't know where all of them are located at any given time.

The Biden-Harris administration's open border policies also have made communities across the country vulnerable to a terrorist attack. During this administration, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has encountered 382 individuals from the terror watch list. In fact, eight illegal immigrants from Tajikistan with alleged ties to terrorism are in the process of deportation.

Americans deserve to know who else is lurking under the radar. Director Wray testified before Congress that he sees "blinking lights" of danger flashing from China, the border and terrorism. And yet, I wrote Director Wray this summer asking why the FBI refused to share data with the Department of Homeland Security when vetting Afghan evacuees who have been convicted of serious crimes. Federal agencies need to learn from history. After 9/11, we learned the federal government failed to "connect the dots" between intelligence agencies and law enforcement. I'm continuing to press for answers from the FBI to protect the American people from harm that may result from the Biden-Harris administration's failure to properly screen Afghan evacuees.

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