ISIS Terrorist Plot in Afghanistan: Biden Administration Agencies Point Finger as Lawmakers Demand Answers

Government agencies are raising their fingers over how an Afghan citizen, the man now accused of planning an election day terrorist attack, was allowed into the US after he was allegedly radicalized – as lawmakers press for more information.

Authorities last week announced the arrest of Nasir Ahmed Tawhedi, accused of planning an ISIS-inspired election day terrorist attack.

Tawhedi was charged with conspiracy and attempted extortion of material support for ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a serious crime or a federal terrorism offense. Court documents say he liquidated his family's assets to finance his plans, including purchasing rifles and one-way tickets for his wife and son back to Afghanistan.

Afghan accused of terrorist plot on Election Day raises questions, lawmakers fear: 'This is reality'

Tawhedi arrived in the United States in September 2021, after the Taliban retook Afghanistan. The United States will admit more than 97,000 Afghan refugees, including about 77,000 admitted through humanitarian parole.

Court documents initially stated that he came on a special immigrant visa, but have since clarified that he came to the United States through humanitarian parole and later applied for SIV status. Parole requires less intense testing than the SIV process.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas initially declined to answer questions at a White House briefing last week. But one Senior Administration Officer told Fox News that Tawhedi was shown three times. He was selected first to work for CIA security in Afghanistan, then for humanitarian parole to enter the United States in 2021, when he was vetted and vetted in a third country, and then for special immigrant status, for which he was approved. Your status is not yet finalized.

Authorities said they believe he became radicalized after arriving in the U.S. and there was no indication there were warning signs to prevent his entry.

But then the government's blame game began over the question of when he was radicalized. Fox News has been told that the FBI is still trying to figure out when he was radicalized and whether he fell into oblivion.

“The Department of Homeland Security is in direct conflict with the State Department over who vets whom,” Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News. “I think we all know that the verification did not go as well as it should have. They released a lot of the wrong people and left the right people behind.”

DHS said it did everything according to the rules.

Mallorca refused to answer questions about an Afghan accused of plotting terrorism on election day

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a briefing on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“When we verify and when we verify an individual, we do it intensively, it is a screening and spot verification process. If we subsequently receive information that indicates the individual may be a danger, we will take appropriate law enforcement action.” exactly what we did in this case,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News this weekend. Asked about his radicalization, Mayorkas said he would not speak about the matter because it was an “ongoing investigation”.

Fox News reported Monday that two Oklahoma senators had received briefings from the DOJ, but Rep. Stephanie Bice had not and complained about the lack of information. Tawhedi was arrested in Oklahoma.

After the briefing, both senators expressed concern about the possibility of another attack.

Accused of terrorism on the day of the Afghan national elections

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, criticized the left-leaning media and suggested they were covering the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. (FoxNotícias)

“There was a vulnerability that, in this case, could be exploited by ISIS. It could be the Taliban next time. It could be any other terrorist organization out there. And what I'm afraid of… is just maybe one of dozens, I wouldn't say hundreds, but ten other people who are in the same situation,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, told Fox News.

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“It's real. And we have people who are trying to kill us in our own country, they are plotting,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, told Fox News. “An open border is a danger. As we’ve already seen, we’re living on borrowed time right now.”

Fox News' Chad Pargram and Jackie Heinrich contributed to this report.