An Afghan national allowed into the US shortly after the Harris-Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was charged Tuesday with plotting an ISIS-inspired Election Day terror attack.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was living in Oklahoma City on a Special Immigrant Visa as he took steps to stockpile AK-47 rifles and ammunition to carry out an attack on US soil “in the name of ISIS,” according to the Justice Department.
He entered the US on Sept. 9, 2021, just weeks after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and the last US troops departed from the war-torn nation.
The Harris-Biden administration granted more than 70,000 Afghans humanitarian parole to enter the US after the US exit from Afghanistan. The Department of Homeland Security’s parole program for Afghans allows migrants to receive two-years of legal status in the US, with the ability to apply for extensions.
Tawhedi is one of those Afghans on parole “pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings,” according to the complaint.
Along with gathering firearms, Tawhedi allegedly prepared for his attack by making moves to liquidate his family’s assets and resettle family members overseas, according to the DOJ.
The criminal complaint against Tawhedi notes that the FBI discovered “ISIS propaganda on his iCloud and Google account” and a video recorded on Tawhedi’s phone of him telling two children about “the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.”
In the video, Tawhedi stated that “martyrs will be exempted from the sufferings of the grave, placed in heaven, get married to 72 virgins, and receive a crown full of jewels,” according to the complaint.
A photo of man wearing a suicide bomber vest, an image of the Sept. 11, 2021, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and a portrait of ISIS big Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were among the disturbing images allegedly found on Tawhedi’s phone.
The FBI also found evidence that Tawhedi participated in ISIS-aligned Telegram groups and that he donated at least $540 in cryptocurrency to a Syria-based “charity which fronts for and funnels money to ISIS.”
A TikTok account linked to Tawhedi by the FBI bore a username that included “a ninja emoji, and a black flag similar to the ISIS flag,” according to the DOJ.
Tawhedi intended to carry out the attack with a juvenile co-conspirator that has been arrested but isn’t named in the complaint.
The alleged terrorist exchanged several messages on Telegram with an individual previously identified by the FBI as a person who “facilitated the recruitment, training, and indoctrination of persons who expressed interest in terrorist activity.”
Tawhedi passed along his alleged terror contact and other pro-ISIS Telegram group to his co-conspirator, according to the complaint.
“We found a person who deals with weapons,” Tawhedi allegedly wrote in one Telegram message to the terror facilitator who goes by “Malik.”
“He found it for us. They are smuggled. We bought two, they are Kalashnikovs,” the message continues. “We are two people, we bought two. Each one costs $1,200.00. Everything will perhaps be $3,000.00 in total. We have ordered 500 bullets.”
“What do you think, brother? Is it enough or should we increase it?” Tawhedi allegedly asked.
“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “I am proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed.”
“Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,” he added.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said his department “foiled” Tawhedi’s alleged “plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on US soil on Election Day.”
“We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people,” Garland said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to the public servants of the FBI, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma for their work to disrupt this attack and for the work they do every day to protect our country.”
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said in a statement that the charges against Tawhedi are “ a stark reminder that our nation continues to face threats from those who hate our freedom and want to do us harm.”
“Tawhedi is [an] Afghan refugee with ties to ISIS,” Lankford said. “With the escalating conflict in Israel and across the Middle East, we must remain vigilant against terrorism here at home.”
“Oklahomans know well that many of the Afghan refugees in our communities fought side by side with American troops against the terrorism that attacked our nation on 9/11 and destroyed the nation of Afghanistan,” he added.
Lankford, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, noted that he has been “ in direct contact with the FBI about this case for a while” and that he will “remain engaged as Tawhedi is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
