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ISLAMABAD: The recent arrests of three high-profile Afghan threats within a week highlight the urgent need to reassess individuals admitted to the US under Operation Allies Welcome and Operation Enduring Welcome, as emphasized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons in a comment to a private television. A post on X by the US ICE shared Lyons&#39;s comment from Wednesday.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1998747749194354721&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fsections%2F&sessionId=007c6f11278702c7f4857965668ba2f2061f9bc9&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 672px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;"></iframe></div></div>Lyons said, &ldquo;You know, ISIS is an organization and agency that was born out of 9-11. So that&#39;s our main mission, right, is counterterrorism, national security.&rdquo; &lsquo;Nothing like that ever happens again&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;So, we want to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again, especially on a day like, you know, Pearl Harbor Day, right, that we want to make sure there are no surprise attacks ever again.&rdquo; &ldquo;You know, this individual, member of ISIS-K, he was supplying weapons to his father, who is still an Afghan national and a commander in the Taliban in Afghanistan to this day,&rdquo; Lyons added. The ICE acting director said, &ldquo;He was arrested right down a few miles from here in the capital, in Waynesboro.&rdquo; &lsquo;Go back and re-vet&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;You know, the same week we arrested this individual, we had the individual that shot the National Guardsmen, and then we also had the individual, another Afghan, who came in on the Operation Allies Welcome, who tried a weapon of mass destruction attack at the Air Force Joint Base in Fort Worth, Texas.&rdquo; &ldquo;So, ICE has to go ahead and go back and re-vet these individuals.&rdquo; Lyons said, &ldquo;We have to look at who we let in, because there&rsquo;s over 190,000 of these Allied Welcomes Operation candidates that came in, that we have to go back and properly look at them.&rdquo;

Americas

Recent arrests of Afghan individuals in the US have raised concerns about Operation Allies Welcome and Enduring Welcome; ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons stressed the need for re-vetting evacuees to ensure national security.

Spate of Afghan threat arrests spurs scrutiny of Operation Allies Welcome 

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan national living in the United States under the Biden-era &ldquo;Operation Allies Welcome&rdquo; program has been arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, after posting a video online appearing to assemble an explosive device, according to a senior US homeland security official, it emerged on Saturday.&nbsp;Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security said on X that the suspect, identified as Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, uploaded a TikTok video showing himself putting together what he implied was an explosive. She said the footage suggested he intended to target the Fort Worth area.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 897px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1994815818635288752&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=e523e4423abc97e2499e28c4f66e0e17a7c2d13a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> Alokozay was taken into custody on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI&rsquo;s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He has been charged with making terroristic threats.&nbsp;The arrest was made a day before another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, carried out a shooting in Washington. 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.&nbsp;Authorities in Washington have described the attack as a deliberate act of terror. Lakanwal had been in the United States for more than a year.&nbsp;The two incidents, reported within 24 hours of each other, have intensified political focus on President Donald Trump&rsquo;s new immigration measures. The president has launched a &ldquo;reverse migration&rdquo; initiative aimed at removing individuals who, in his words, &ldquo;do not belong here or do not add benefit&rdquo;.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.

Department of Homeland Security says the arrested individual uploaded a TikTok video showing himself putting together what he implied was an explosive.

Articles tagged with "Operation Allies Welcome"

Spate of Afghan threat arrests spurs scrutiny of Operation Allies Welcome

Second Afghan national arrested in US on terrorism charges