A Tragedy in Washington and a Turning Point for U.S. Policy Toward Afghan Refugees

This piece originally appeared in EURASIAREVIEW on November 29, 2025

The recent attack in Washington, D.C.—in which an Afghan national killed a National Guard officer and left another in critical condition—has shaken the United States, and rightly so. A young American woman who had sworn to defend her nation lost her life. Another, her colleague, now fights for his own. Their families, communities, and the National Guard suffer a wound that cannot be eased by simple words.

The Afghan community across the United States mourns with them. We condemn this act unequivocally and demand the fullest lawful punishment for the perpetrator. Having endured decades of suicide attacks, assassinations, and extremist violence, Afghans understand the pain of terrorism with devastating familiarity. We know this grief intimately and we stand with Americans in this moment of sorrow.

Fortunately, the perpetrator was captured alive. He is in custody, under investigation, and able to answer for his actions. His survival should have encouraged restraint and professionalism—yet several political actors rushed to issue sweeping judgments long before investigators had spoken a word with him. Such premature conclusions reveal more about the political environment than about the crime itself. Had he been killed at the scene; the vacuum of evidence might have explained speculation. But he survived. The evidence is forthcoming. There is no justification for political theater masquerading as national security analysis.

The Humanitarian Bond Between Americans and Afghans

In the years since the fall of Kabul, the relationship between the American public and Afghan refugees has been defined not by politics but by humanity. When Afghanistan collapsed in August 2021, it was ordinary Americans—veterans, churches, nonprofits, neighbors—who acted first. They raised funds, opened homes, offered transportation, mentorship, employment leads, and English classes. They welcomed Afghans not as strangers, but as families in crisis.

This civilian generosity formed one of the most extraordinary people-to-people humanitarian partnerships in recent history. It must not be forgotten in moments of panic or political opportunism.

Americans gave Afghans safety when the Taliban offered none. Afghans, in turn, have worked tirelessly to rebuild their lives, contribute to local economies, and honor the trust given to them. Most Afghan newcomers were not simply refugees; they were former interpreters, soldiers, intelligence partners, or civil servants who had served directly alongside U.S. forces.

These ties matter. They are central to understanding why collective accusations against an entire community are both unjust and strategically misguided.

The U.S. Military Knows Who Afghan Allies Are

If the American public seeks clarity about Afghan evacuees, it should start with the U.S. military and intelligence services—those who worked with them most closely.

Many evacuees came from the Zero Units, the Khost Protection Force, and other highly specialized formations directly partnered with the CIA and U.S. special operations. They were vetted for years, embedded with American personnel, entrusted with sensitive missions, and instrumental in dismantling extremist networks.

During the evacuation, many arrived at U.S. bases with their weapons. They handed those weapons over willingly, boarded aircraft, lived on American military installations, and interacted daily with U.S. personnel. If they had harbored violent intent, there were countless opportunities to act. Not one incident occurred.

The institutions that know Afghan allies best—the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, the State Department—did not view them as a security threat. Political narratives suggesting otherwise contradict the entire history of Afghan American military partnership.

Afghans and the Making of Modern American Power

It is also essential to recognize a historical truth rarely acknowledged in today’s political discourse: the America we know today—the undisputed superpower, the wealthiest nation in human history, the global leader of democratic order—owes a decisive part of its ascent to the sacrifices of the Afghan people. In the late 20th century, the world was effectively divided between two colossal poles of power: the United States and its NATO allies on one side, and the Soviet Union on the other. The defining question of the era—the question that would determine the fate of the modern world—was which system would prevail liberal democracy and market capitalism, or communism and Soviet expansionism.

That existential global struggle, known as the Cold War, was not resolved in Berlin, Washington, or Moscow, but on Afghan soil. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Afghans became the frontline defenders of the Western world’s strategic future. They fought the Soviet military machine for a decade with extraordinary courage, losing more than a million lives and enduring the destruction of their country—not for territorial gain, not for ideological conquest, but because Afghanistan refused to kneel before authoritarian expansion.

The Afghan resistance shattered the Red Army, inflicted the only major military defeat in Soviet history, and triggered the internal collapse that ultimately dissolved the USSR. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, communism as a global project imploded, the Cold War ended, and the United States emerged not simply as a strong nation but as the world’s lone superpower—militarily, economically, politically, and culturally.

That transformation was made possible because Afghans fought and won America’s war long before many policymakers and citizens understood its strategic stakes. And this was only the first time Afghans fought for American interests. A decade later, after 9/11, Afghans again joined the United States in another global struggle—against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and international terrorism. Afghans fought, bled, and died alongside American soldiers for twenty years, ensuring that extremist networks could not again use Afghan soil to strike the United States.

This is why the Afghan presence in America is fundamentally unlike any immigrant community in the country’s 300-year history. Many senators proudly proclaim that they are grateful their parents brought them to America. Yet the truth is that more than 90 percent of America’s immigrant waves came seeking opportunity or escape from hardship. They contributed enormously after arriving—but their forefathers did not fight American wars on foreign soil, did not defeat superpowers on America’s behalf, and did not sacrifice millions of lives for U.S. interests before setting foot on American land.

Afghans did. Afghans earned their place in the United States not by seeking economic mobility or escaping personal poverty, but because they twice defended American interests on the frontlines of history—first by defeating the Soviet Union, and then by fighting the war on terror. To portray Afghan refugees as mere beneficiaries of American generosity is to erase the geopolitical reality that they were, in fact, among the most consequential contributors to America’s rise, long before they ever arrived on American shores.

The Political Rush to Judgment: A Repeating American Error

Against this historical backdrop, the political reaction to the Washington attack becomes even more troubling. That several lawmakers immediately linked the crime to immigration policy reveals a persistent American impulse: to transform individual wrongdoing into a narrative of collective guilt.

This reflex has repeatedly damaged the nation. Irish immigrants faced it in the 19th century. Italians in the early 20th. German particularly the Jews and Japanese Americans during the world wars. Muslims after 9/11. Each episode is now condemned as a moral failure and a misreading of national-security threats.

To repeat these errors with Afghan refugees—especially after their decades of partnership with the United States—is neither just nor strategically coherent.

The Strategic Blind Spot: Pakistan’s Role in Regional Extremism

If the United States intends to address the roots of South Asian terrorism, it must confront the central incubator of regional militancy: Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment.

Nearly every major extremist network linked to Afghanistan has Pakistani origins or support.The 9/11 hijackers trained in Pakistan.Osama bin Laden lived—and was killed—near Pakistan’s premier military academy.The Taliban leadership has long operated under Pakistani patronage. The Pakistani army is the only military in the world that institutionalizes “jihad” as a doctrinal principle.

Yet Pakistani generals continue to receive diplomatic courtesies in Washington. The head of such doctrinal principle yet remains the favorite field-marshal of the U.S. President.

While Afghan allies receive suspicion. This imbalance is not simply unfair—it undermines the coherence of U.S. foreign policy and weakens the broader counterterrorism strategy.

What the United States Should Do Now

The Washington attack demands a serious response, guided by principle and policy—not fear.

1. Enforce Individual Accountability

The perpetrator must face the harshest lawful sentence. But blaming millions for the actions of one is neither moral nor strategic.

2. Protect Investigative Integrity

Premature political statements undermine law-enforcement work and public trust.

3. Reaffirm Afghan Contributions

Acknowledging Afghan service strengthens alliances and corrects public misconceptions.

4. Address Pakistan’s Role

Any serious counterterrorism strategy must confront Pakistan’s structural support for extremism.

5. Invest in Refugee Integration

Supporting Afghan integration strengthens national resilience and honors America’s commitments.

Conclusion

The Washington attack was horrific. The Afghan community stands with the American people in mourning, in grief, and in demanding justice. But tragedy must not be weaponized into collective punishment. Nor should it distract from the geopolitical realities driving extremism in South Asia.

Afghans are not newcomers seeking opportunity; they are partners who fought for American interests long before they arrived on U.S. soil. They defended the free world in the Cold War and stood with the United States in the war on terror. Their place in America is not accidental—it is earned.

At this moment, America faces a choice between political fear and principled leadership.The Afghan American partnership deserves the latter. So does the memory of the fallen American officer whose life was taken in Washington.