Afghan national arrested near Washington for ISIS-K support: US Homeland Security

ISLAMABAD: The US Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced that it had arrested an Afghan national just miles from Washington, DC, for providing support to the terrorist group, ISIS-K.  

“Today the heroes of @ICEgov arrested Jaan Shah Safi, an unvetted Afghan national who provided support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K),” said a post on X on Thursday (December 04).

"He also provided weapons to his father who is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan," the post added.

"The Biden administration created one of the worst national security crises in American history. Biden let into our country nearly 190,000 unvetted Afghan aliens — only determining who they were and their intentions when they were already on American soil." 

"President Trump has been working every day since January 20 to clean up this unmitigated national security crisis," the post concluded.

Case of Luqmaan Khan

In another development, according to a US Justice Department press release issued on Monday, a Wilmington resident was charged with illegally possessing a machine gun on Nov. 26, 2025.

On Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, at approximately 11:47 p.m., patrol officers of the New Castle County Police Department were conducting a property check in Canby Park West when they observed a white Toyota Tacoma in the parkland, after hours, the press release said. 

Officers initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and contacted the driver, and sole occupant, 25-year-old Luqmaan Khan of Wilmington, it said. 

During the stop, officers developed probable cause to order Khan out of the vehicle, and he refused to comply. Subsequently, Khan resisted arrest and was taken into custody by the officers, the press release said.

During their investigation, officers discovered in Khan’s vehicle a .357 caliber Glock handgun loaded with 27 rounds, it said.  

The handgun had been inserted into a microplastic conversion firearm brace kit.  Within the vehicle, officers also found all the following: (i) three more loaded, 27-round magazines (one in the storage slot of the conversion kit); (ii) a loaded Glock 9mm magazine; (iii) an armored ballistic plate; and (iv) a marble composition notebook, the press release said.

In the handwritten notebook, Khan discussed additional weapons and firearms, how they could be used in an attack, and how law enforcement detection could be avoided afterward. 

The notebook referenced a member of the University of Delaware’s Police Department by name, and included a layout of a building with entry and exit points under which the words “UD Police Station” were printed, the Justice Department press release said. 

Not a Pakistani citizen  

After US media reported that the arrested man, Luqmaan Khan, was a Pakistan-born US citizen, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andarabi issued a statement on Thursday, clarifying that Khan was not a Pakistani citizen.

"According to an inquiry, Luqmaan Khan is an Afghan citizen," he said.

"He had been in Pakistan as a refugee for some time, but the Afghan citizen has spent most of his life in the US," said Andarabi.

Afghan man charged in Texas 

Earlier on Dec. 2, US officials said that an Afghan man had been charged in Texas with threatening to build a bomb and carry out a suicide attack.

Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, 30, of Fort Worth, allegedly made the threats in a Nov. 23 video that he shared on TikTok, X, and Facebook, the US Justice Department said in a statement.

In the video, Alokozay allegedly praised the Taliban and threatened to carry out a suicide attack on Americans.

"Thanks to public reports of a threatening online video, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended this individual before he could commit an act of violence," FBI Dallas special agent in charge Joseph Rothrock said.

On Nov. 29, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the US Department of Homeland Security said on X that Mohammad Dawood Alokozay had uploaded a TikTok video showing himself assembling what he implied was an explosive. She said the footage suggested he intended to target the Fort Worth area.

Shooting in Washington 

Alokozay’s arrest was made a day before another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, carried out a shooting in Washington, DC. 

Lakanwal opened fire on members of the US National Guard during a routine patrol near a residential neighborhood close to the Capitol. Two soldiers were critically wounded before he was arrested.

Authorities in Washington have described the attack as a deliberate act of terror. Lakanwal had been in the US for more than a year.

The two incidents, reported within 24 hours of each other, have intensified political focus on President Donald Trump’s new immigration measures.

The president has launched a “reverse migration” initiative aimed at removing individuals who, in his words, “do not belong here or do not add benefit.”

He has ordered a detailed reassessment of Afghans who entered the country under Operation Allies Welcome, directing agencies to conduct fresh security reviews on a case-by-case basis.

The White House has also instructed officials to reexamine all refugee, parole, and humanitarian programs established during the previous administration. Additional directives are expected as scrutiny of recent arrivals expands.