State Department 'immediately' halts all Afghan passport visas following deadly National Guard attack

By Fox News · Fox News

The Department of State has immediately paused all visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports following an attack in Washington, D.C., Wednesday targeting National Guard members. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national, is charged with first-degree murder among other counts related to the ambush, which has since claimed the life of West Virginia National Guard Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, and critically wounded U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Lakanwal was vetted by the CIA in Afghanistan and granted final asylum approval under President Donald Trump 's administration earlier this year, multiple sources told Fox News Digital. "The Department of State has IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports," the agency wrote in an announcement on social media. "The Department is taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. national security and public safety." LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONDING AFTER 2 NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS SHOT NEAR WHITE HOUSE Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took to X to share the news. "President Trump’s State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports," Rubio wrote in a post. "The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people." U.S.-based Afghanistan allies relocation and resettlement nonprofit AfghanEvac denounced Friday's decision, calling the administration's move a "violation of federal law." "It appears Secretary Rubio is attempting to shut down the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program in direct violation of federal law and standing court orders. He is seemingly acting at the direction of President Trump and Stephen Miller, and there is no doubt this is the outcome they have been driving toward for months," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement. "They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to puni…