EXCLUSIVE — A lawmaker is raising national security concerns over how an Afghan man who had “unrestricted access” to Taliban commanders obtained a visa to enter the United States.
The man, Emraan Rahimi, arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia in early October and then flew to North Carolina, according to a letter sent by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to the secretary of state. He was said to have traveled to the state. Antony Blinken on Wednesday. Rahimi did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
According to Burchett and Vets4NRF, Rahimi’s YouTube account posts videos of his travels and meetings with Taliban officials, and he obtained a U.S. visa at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, in September. He reportedly came to the United States via Turkey. U.S. military veterans organization. In late September, Rahimi boasted about getting a U.S. visa in a YouTube video posted to his account. He has around 12,000 subscribers on his platform.
Vets4NRF, which provided Burchett with information about Rahimi, is comprised of “bipartisan U.S. veterans who served in the post-9/11 wars” and is “dedicated to promoting a mutually beneficial partnership between the U.S. and Afghanistan.” ”. The organization is led by an Afghan-American US Army veteran who goes by the pseudonym Legend. The veteran, who uses a false name because he was a close contact in Afghanistan, is participating in the anti-Taliban resistance movement. The veteran is often a source of information for lawmakers investigating Afghanistan-related issues.
Mr. Burchett’s letter to Mr. Blinken came shortly after the FBI on Tuesday announced charges against another Afghan man who entered the United States in 2021 amid the failed Kabul airlift. Nasir Ahmad Tawhidi was arrested by federal police in Oklahoma City on suspicion of planning a large-scale attack targeting Americans on Election Day. He is said to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which the U.S. government recognizes as a foreign terrorist organization.
Rahimi, an Afghan man who came to Burchett’s attention, “has been allowed access to restricted areas controlled by the Taliban and the Haqqani network, including terrorist training camps and the residences of former government officials,” Burchett said. argued in the letter.
He cited a video on Rahimi’s YouTube account, released by Burchett’s office and Vets4NRF, in which the Afghan appeared alongside Taliban officials, including Maulvi Ghulam Haider Shahama. He said the interview was portrayed as sympathetic. Taliban officials were listed in the Directorate General of Technical and Vocational Education in 2023.
“This situation is particularly concerning given that the area visited by Mr. Rahimi is home to many displaced Afghan soldiers and their families,” Burchett said in a letter to Blinken. Ta. “I am deeply concerned not only for their safety, but also for the well-being of the Afghan American community and U.S. veterans of the Global War on Terror, who have bravely fought Taliban terrorists for more than two decades.”
Burchett said in the letter that Rahimi “referred to Sirajuddin Haqqani, a terrorist wanted by the FBI with a $10 million bounty, as ‘Caliph’ in a YouTube video.” Ta. Mr. Haqqani’s terrorist supporters have long referred to him as the “caliph.” It most commonly refers to the head of the Islamic caliphate, but is also a leadership title used by many Muslim groups.
The FBI lists “Khalifa (Boss) Shahib” as an alias for Mr. Haqqani. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi claimed the title of “caliph” when he ruled the so-called Islamic State.
“That was very nice,” Rahimi told a person he was interviewing, believed to be a Taliban official, in a video posted to his YouTube channel in March 2024, according to a Persian translation by an independent translator. That’s what it means. “So, by order of His Excellency the Caliph Sahib Sirja Al-Din Haqqani, this directive has been issued and the recruitment and enlistment of the army has begun?”
Additionally, a video posted to Rahimi’s YouTube account, which has since been deleted, showed him at a Taliban training facility. Another video Rahimi posted in October 2023 showed him interviewing a Taliban official, asking him how many people he had killed.
“How many Americans or foreigners have you personally killed?” Rahimi asked Taliban officials in the video, according to a Farsi translation.
“Maybe I didn’t kill anyone,” the Taliban official replied, but Rahimi pushed back: “Is that possible?” You said you engaged in a crusade against the occupation. ”
Burchett said in the letter that Rahimi “has consistently provided favorable coverage of sanctioned Taliban leaders and effectively helped advance their extremist agenda.” He said it was obvious.
Burchett called on the State Department to “closely monitor Mr. Rahimi’s activities and affiliations” because of potential national security concerns. The State Department declined to comment to the Washington Examiner.
Regardless of the type of visa Rahimi entered the country on, the Department of Homeland Security and its agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, would have examined Rahimi’s background for red flags.
Screeners have access to confidential databases that flag criminals and people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, preventing dangerous individuals from entering the United States. Data from the Afghan government may be difficult for U.S. screeners to obtain, given that country’s control.
Biometric data, such as fingerprints and facial scans, is collected during the vetting process, but it can only be matched against data available to U.S. authorities, so Rahimi’s YouTube commentary and travels may be missed.
The next step is vetting, which refers to an in-person interview during which federal officials determine whether the applicant is who he says he is and whether he poses a national security risk to the United States. . It became a requirement for admission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Rahimi’s entry comes three years after more than 120,000 Afghans left the country amid the US military withdrawal in August 2021.
After 20 years of war, the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed Ghani government in Afghanistan about two weeks before the U.S. troop withdrawal at the end of August 2021.
President Joe Biden had promised to evacuate U.S. allies who supported troops during the two-decade war on terror. The U.S. government created a special visa category known as the Special Immigrant Visa Program for people who helped the United States during the war. To obtain this type of visa, you must go through a 14-step process. The government was severely delayed in approving applications by August of the same year, with only 750 of the 20,000 applicants making it to the final stage.
While U.S. troops evacuated people who helped the United States during the war, Afghans rushed to airports trying to get out of the country. Despite Mr. Biden’s statements that the administration would provide relief to visa recipients, the administration airlifted tens of thousands more people whose visas had not been approved and whose applications had not yet been processed.
Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.
The FBI declined to comment.
