The Islamic man from Afghanistan who was arrested in Oklahoma on Monday for allegedly planning an ISIS terror attack on Election Day reportedly worked as a security guard in Afghanistan for the CIA.
NBC News reported that 27-year-old Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi had “minimal interaction with Americans and he was not a CIA informant or a member of the U.S.-trained and armed paramilitary force known as the ‘Zero Units.’”
After news broke of his arrest, questions immediately began to swirl about how the Biden-Harris administration failed to properly vet Tawhedi when he was evacuated out of Afghanistan following the administration’s disastrous withdraw in 2021.
Charging documents stated that he was brought to Oklahoma by the administration under its special immigrant visa program.
However, sources told NBC News that the charging documents were wrong and he did not enter the U.S. under the special immigrant visa program.
Instead, he entered the U.S. on humanitarian parole, which “entails far less screening than a special immigrant visa,” the report said.
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Officials claimed that once he entered the U.S., he applied for a special immigrant visa and was vetted through that program, but even though he was approved, he never took the steps to make it official. No further details were provided.
The screening process included “searching for any possible ties to terrorism, ISIS or the Taliban using information from his electronic devices, biometrics and other identity information to search the extensive intelligence databases the U.S. compiled over 20 years of collecting in Afghanistan,” the report said.
Tawhedi was charged with providing, attempting to provide, and conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization; and knowingly receiving, conspiring to receive, and attempting to receive firearms and ammunition to be used to commit a felony or Federal crime of terrorism.
Prosecutors say that Tawhedi and a juvenile co-conspirator (CC 1) from Afghanistan took steps to raise the funds needed to carry out the attack and repatriate their family members to Afghanistan a couple weeks prior to the attack by selling their home and personal property.
CC 1 is Tawhedi’s brother-in-law and was brought to the U.S. in 2018.
The suspects had an extensive amount of ISIS propaganda that encouraged terrorist attacks on the U.S. and posed for photos while making ISIS hand gestures.
Prosecutors said Tawhedi donated to a charity in March 2024 that was a front group for funneling money to ISIS, which is a crime.
The FBI started monitoring him after the donation and tracked down his social media accounts and encrypted Telegram account where he was connected to another Islamic extremist who was involved in ISIS recruitment.
Tawhedi sent CC 1 other contacts and encouraged them to be put into contact with the ISIS recruitment group.
In early September, an FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS 1) reached out to the suspects after they put the family’s home and personal possessions up for sale to fund the attack and their family’s repatriation to Afghanistan.
CHS 1 purchased a desktop computer and laptop from the suspects and told them he needed the devices for a new gun business that he was starting.
From that point, CHS 1 built a relationship with the suspects and encouraged them to come shooting and told them he would sell them weapons.
Messages on his Telegram account that were obtained by investigators allegedly show Tawhedi admitting to illegally purchasing two AK-47s and 500 rounds of ammunition. After he took delivery of the rifles and ammunition, undercover agents arrested both suspects.
Tawhedi said in his communications that the terrorist attack was planned for Election Day. In a post-arrest interview, investigators say that he admitted to the plot and said that he and CC 1 expected to be martyred during the attack, which was “targeting large gatherings of people,” court documents said.
