We had no idea who Biden put on those planes. None.
Four years after the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the wounds of that moment have reopened on the streets of Washington. An Afghan national who entered the United States under the 2021 evacuation program allegedly shot two National Guardsmen near the White House, drawing a direct line — in the eyes of grieving families — between the rushed departure from Kabul and the security of the homeland. For Gold Star father Darin Hoover, who lost his son at Abbey Gate, the shooting is not a surprise but a reckoning long foretold, a consequence of a government that moved too fast and asked too few questions of those it carried home.
- An Afghan national admitted to the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome allegedly ambushed two West Virginia National Guardsmen in the shadow of the White House, triggering an FBI terrorism investigation.
- The attack has reignited fury among Gold Star families who have spent four years warning that the evacuation's compressed timeline left dangerous gaps in the screening of tens of thousands of evacuees.
- Darin Hoover, who lost his son Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover in the Abbey Gate bombing, says the shooting confirms what he has argued since 2021 — that men of unknown intent were placed on evacuation flights with little to no vetting.
- Former CIA Director John Ratcliffe joined the chorus of criticism, stating the alleged shooter and others like him should never have been permitted entry into the country.
- The FBI is actively investigating the shooting as a possible act of international terrorism, while Hoover and the Abbey Gate families vow to keep pressing for accountability from the former administration.
On a Wednesday in late November, two West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot near the White House by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who had entered the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome. The attack sent a tremor through a grief that had never fully settled — back to the final, fractured days of the American withdrawal from Kabul.
For Darin Hoover, the shooting was a confirmation of a fear he had carried for four years. His son, Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover — an 11-year Marine veteran on his third deployment, engaged to be married — was one of 13 service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing on August 26, 2021. Since that day, Hoover has been among the most relentless voices demanding answers. He blamed the State Department and Antony Blinken directly, arguing that the evacuation's compressed timeline meant thousands of people, including men he believed were likely terrorists, were allowed into the country without adequate screening. 'We had no idea who was getting into this country,' he said.
Lakanwal had worked with several U.S. government entities in Afghanistan, including the CIA, as part of a partner force in Kandahar. The FBI is now treating the shooting as a possible act of international terrorism. Former CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the alleged shooter and 'so many others' should never have been admitted.
Hoover's grief has been compounded by what he describes as years of silence from the Biden administration. In 2024, he expressed rage when President Biden falsely claimed during a presidential debate that no service members had died under his watch. He also revealed that all 13 Abbey Gate families had received what appeared to be identical, photocopied condolence letters — a year after the attack. His requests for a meeting with Biden went unanswered.
With the White House shooting now adding a new and violent chapter, Hoover sees the consequences of the 2021 withdrawal still unfolding on American soil. The investigation remains active. Hoover says he will not stop speaking until the families receive real answers. 'This isn't going away,' he said. 'We're not going away.'
On a Wednesday in late November, two West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot near the White House by a man identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. The shooting set off a chain of reckonings that stretched back four years, to a moment when thousands of Afghans were evacuated from Kabul in the final, fractured days of the American withdrawal.
Darin Hoover, whose son Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover was among the 13 service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing during that evacuation, saw the shooting as confirmation of a fear that had haunted him and other Gold Star families since 2021: that people had been put on those planes with little to no real screening. "We had no idea who was getting into this country," Hoover said in a statement to Fox News Digital. He pointed directly at the State Department, led by Antony Blinken, for failing to do the vetting work that should have been done. The evacuation had been compressed into a truncated timeline, he argued, and the result was that men of fighting age—people he believed were likely terrorists—had been allowed into the United States.
Lakanwal had entered the country in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the resettlement program that followed the fall of Kabul. He had worked with several U.S. government entities in Afghanistan, including the CIA, as part of a partner force in Kandahar. The FBI was now leading the investigation into the shooting, and multiple intelligence sources told Fox News Digital the attack was being treated as a possible act of international terrorism. Former CIA Director John Ratcliffe echoed Hoover's criticism, saying the individual "and so many others" should never have been allowed into the country.
Hoover's son Taylor had been an 11-year Marine veteran, engaged to be married, on his third deployment when he was killed in the Abbey Gate attack on August 26, 2021. For years since, Hoover had been one of the most vocal parents demanding accountability. In 2024, he had made headlines when he reacted to President Biden falsely claiming during a presidential debate that no U.S. service members had died under his watch. Hoover said he felt "rage" and "absolute disgust" hearing those words. "He's never acknowledged, not one time, any of our kids. He's never said their names," Hoover had told Fox News Digital at the time.
He also revealed that the Abbey Gate families had received identical condolence letters from the Biden administration a year after the attack—all 13 families getting what appeared to be a photocopy. "It looked like it was a photocopy," Hoover said. "We've had absolutely nothing before, nothing since." His attempts to secure a meeting with Biden had been unsuccessful. "He doesn't want to deal with us," Hoover said in that 2024 interview. "He knows that we're in his face, but he doesn't want to deal with us."
Now, with the shooting of the two National Guardsmen allegedly carried out by an Afghan national allowed into the country during the withdrawal, Hoover saw a devastating new chapter unfolding. The consequences of the troubled evacuation, he believed, were still playing out on American soil. Federal officials said the investigation remained active. Hoover said he would continue speaking out until the families of the Abbey Gate fallen received answers and until the former administration took responsibility for what he saw as ongoing failures. "This isn't going away," he said. "We're not going away."
Citas Notables
This is on the feckless Biden administration. We had no idea who was getting into this country because the Biden administration, especially the State Department run by Antony Blinken, didn't do the work that was needed to vet all these people.— Darin Hoover, father of Abbey Gate bombing victim
The individual—and so many others—should have never been allowed to come here. Our citizens and service members deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration's catastrophic failures.— John Ratcliffe, former CIA Director
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
When you look at the timeline—September 2021 evacuation, now this shooting in 2025—what do you think changed, or didn't change, in how we vet people coming in?
Nothing changed. That's the point. Lakanwal came in under the same rushed process, and four years later he's allegedly shooting National Guardsmen blocks from the White House. The vetting was supposed to happen but didn't.
Hoover keeps saying "we had no idea who was getting on those planes." Is that hyperbole, or was the screening genuinely that thin?
It wasn't hyperbole. The evacuation was compressed into days. People were being loaded onto aircraft faster than background checks could be completed. Hoover's anger isn't about one person—it's about the scale of it. Thousands of people, minimal screening.
He mentions that Lakanwal worked with the CIA in Kandahar. Doesn't that suggest some level of vetting already happened?
It suggests he had access to U.S. personnel and operations, which is different from being vetted for entry into the country. Working with the CIA in a war zone is one context. Living freely in America is another. The concern is that people with that kind of access were never properly screened for what they might do once they were here.
What strikes you most about Hoover's repeated statement that Biden never said his son's name?
It's the thing beneath the thing. The policy failure is one wound. But the silence—the identical photocopy letters, the refused meetings—that's a different kind of wound. It says: your son's death doesn't matter enough for us to acknowledge it directly.
Do you think Hoover sees this shooting as vindication of his warnings, or as a new tragedy?
Both. It's vindication that his fears were real. But it's also worse than vindication. It means the thing he warned about actually happened. Two more people were shot. The consequences he predicted are now concrete.