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A picture of an ID badge circulating extensively on-line that reveals the suspect within the taking pictures of the Nationwide Guard members says he was assigned to the “Kandahar Strike Pressure” or “03” unit, one in all quite a lot of so-called “Zero Models” that labored carefully with U.S. and different international forces throughout the conflict in Afghanistan. A former senior Afghan navy supply confirmed to CBS Information that the ID badge is genuine.
A U.S. official briefed on the taking pictures investigation and a former senior Afghan Nationwide Protection and Safety Forces member informed CBS Information that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had been a part of a “Zero Unit,” an Afghan intelligence unit and paramilitary pressure that labored with the CIA. The models have been completely composed of Afghan nationals and operated underneath the umbrella of the Nationwide Directorate of Safety, or NDS, the intelligence company established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s earlier, U.S.-backed authorities. They have been thought-about by the U.S. and its worldwide companions to be among the many most trusted home forces in Afghanistan.
These models are sometimes labeled “dying squads” by human rights teams. The models have been recognized in Afghanistan for his or her secrecy and alleged brutality, and members have been implicated in quite a few extrajudicial killings of civilians, notably throughout night time raids.
The U.S. official briefed on the investigation confirmed the suspect had been disturbed by the casualties on this unit and, extra just lately, deeply troubled by the killing of his shut buddy abroad.
The picture of the ID badge additionally carries the phrases “Firebase Gecko,” which was the identify of a base utilized by the CIA and particular forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was beforehand the compound of the Taliban’s founding chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe mentioned Thursday the suspect had beforehand labored “with the U.S. Authorities, together with CIA, as a member of a companion pressure in Kandahar.”
Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat, a former commanding normal of the Afghan Nationwide Particular Operations Corps, informed CBS Information that Lakanwal labored for the “03” unit for eight years. A former senior Afghan normal underneath the U.S.-backed authorities informed CBS Information on Thursday that “03 unit, also referred to as The Kandahar Strike Pressure (KSF), was underneath particular forces directorate of NDS. They have been probably the most lively {and professional} forces, skilled and outfitted by the CIA. All their operations have been performed underneath the CIA command.” Lakanwal was a part of the unit’s operations crew, Sadat mentioned.
“He was recognized for being accountable {and professional} inside his crew and had robust anti-Taliban views,” Sadat mentioned.
“Whereas we couldn’t set up any connection between him and any terrorist group, we additionally can’t utterly rule it out,” Sadat mentioned. “Nonetheless, we are able to affirm that his background doesn’t present any hyperlinks to terrorists.”
Lakanwal’s household confronted severe threats from the Taliban, which led him to relocate them from their native Khost province to Kabul, Sadat mentioned. Within the U.S., Sadat mentioned Lakanwal was “usually calm and maintained a clear report, although he suffered from PTSD.”
As a member of a Zero Unit, the suspect would have been nearly assured a path to asylum within the U.S. as a result of members of those elite models have been excessive on the listing for Taliban retaliation after the group retook management of the nation. Many members of those models performed key roles within the August 2021 evacuation from Kabul, in return for a assure of house on a flight for themselves and their households out of Afghanistan.
There was no speedy response from Afghanistan’s present Taliban authorities, and officers in Kabul didn’t reply to CBS Information’ requests for touch upon the arrest in Washington.
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