By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

According to a report on Thursday at Fox News, Ratcliffe stated unequivocally that the suspect was one of the thousands of Afghan evacuees rapidly transported to the United States after the fall of Kabul in August 2021. His entry, Ratcliffe said, was justified at the time by Biden administration officials based on his prior work on behalf of U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, as part of what Ratcliffe described as a Kandahar-based “partner force.” That association ended only weeks before the stunning collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the hurried evacuation that followed.

“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” Ratcliffe told Fox News. “The individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here.”

The sharp statement reflects growing bipartisan concern over the vetting standards applied during the initial phases of the Afghan evacuation — concerns that Fox News has been documenting for over two years. Ratcliffe’s remarks also underscore the national security implications of an immigration pipeline that was established during an unprecedented geopolitical crisis, one in which speed, rather than thoroughness, often dictated outcomes.

The incident itself unfolded only blocks from the White House, when the Afghan national opened fire on two National Guard members performing routine security duties. Both Guardsmen survived but suffered significant injuries. As Fox News noted in its report, the attack was jarring not only for its proximity to the seat of American executive power but also because the shooter had entered the country under a special status intended for Afghans who risked their lives working alongside U.S. forces.

While initial details were sparse, Ratcliffe’s confirmation provides the most authoritative explanation to date for how the suspect arrived in the United States and why federal authorities initially deemed him a low-risk entrant.

Former intelligence officials and lawmakers have long warned that the sheer volume of Afghan evacuees processed under the Biden administration — approximately 80,000 individuals — created an almost inevitable risk of dangerous actors slipping through the cracks. As Fox News reported extensively throughout 2021 and 2022, numerous internal reviews later revealed “significant intelligence gaps” in the vetting process.

Ratcliffe, who has repeatedly criticized the withdrawal, told Fox News that the suspect’s case represents the worst-case scenario that intelligence officials had feared.

“Our citizens and service members deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s catastrophic failures,” Ratcliffe said.

The former Director of National Intelligence emphasized that the compressed timeline of the evacuation — with U.S. forces racing to process thousands of Afghans at bases across the Middle East and Europe — created a perfect storm of procedural shortcuts, incomplete biometrics, and insufficiently vetted referrals.

While acknowledging that the suspect may have genuinely aided U.S. forces at one time, Ratcliffe argued that the administration used such prior associations as a blanket justification for entry, even in cases where underlying intelligence was fragmentary or contradictory.

The political response to Ratcliffe’s statements has unfolded rapidly. Republicans on Capitol Hill, many of whom have cited Fox News reporting on Afghan vetting issues over the past three years, argue that this incident demands a full congressional inquiry into how thousands of evacuees were cleared for U.S. entry with insufficient background checks.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), appearing on Fox News, said the attack “validates the warnings we gave during the withdrawal,” adding that “this tragedy was preventable.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have urged caution, arguing that the vast majority of Afghan evacuees have integrated peacefully and productively into American life. Several Democratic lawmakers told Fox News that they remain skeptical of Ratcliffe’s framing, suggesting that the investigation must be completed before definitive conclusions are drawn.

Still, even some moderate Democrats have privately acknowledged — as Fox News has reported — that oversight of the Afghan resettlement process was inconsistent and at times chaotic.

Ratcliffe’s revelation that the suspect worked with U.S. partner forces in Kandahar draws attention to a complex paradox that Fox News has highlighted in its coverage: individuals who genuinely assisted U.S. operations in Afghanistan often did so at extraordinary personal risk. Yet their proximity to local power structures — tribal networks, militia factions, intelligence channels — sometimes meant that Washington lacked full clarity regarding their affiliations.

CIA partner forces, in particular, operated in some of the most volatile regions of Afghanistan, conducting counterterrorism operations, intelligence missions, and targeted security engagements. As one former intelligence operative told Fox News, “These men often walked in two worlds.”

For the former Biden administration, this created a vexing dilemma: deny entry to individuals who worked with the United States and risk condemning them to Taliban reprisals, or admit them with incomplete intelligence and hope that their loyalty remained intact.

The White House chose speed over caution — and, according to Ratcliffe, the nation is now living with the consequences.

This latest case is not isolated. Fox News, citing congressional briefings and leaked DHS documents, has reported several instances in which Afghan evacuees flagged by intelligence systems were later found to have entered the country. At least two individuals were detained after arrival and subsequently deported.

The former Biden administration has defended its vetting protocols, noting that the majority of Afghan entrants underwent multiple layers of biometric and intelligence review. Yet Fox News investigations have repeatedly shown that the initial 2021 intake involved abbreviated screenings, sometimes conducted within minutes at overseas staging facilities.

Ratcliffe, speaking to Fox News, emphasized that these deficiencies were predictable — and preventable.

This incident is poised to become a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats. The image of two National Guardsmen shot by an Afghan evacuee whose entry was justified by prior work with the CIA is almost certain to feature prominently in political advertising and congressional hearings.

Republican officials, many of whom have already echoed Fox News’ coverage, argue that the incident epitomizes a broader pattern of border insecurity and flawed immigration policy. Democrats, by contrast, emphasize that Afghan allies must not be collectively stigmatized for the actions of one individual.

Still, the optics are undeniable: the former Biden administration framed Afghan resettlement as a moral obligation; the Ratcliffe revelations now frame it as a national security vulnerability.

As Fox News reported, the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, but Ratcliffe’s remarks have already reshaped the political and national security conversation. His central claim — that the suspect would never have entered the United States without Biden-era shortcuts — has set the stage for a deeper examination of one of the most consequential policy decisions of the past decade.

The tragedy near the White House is not merely a criminal case. It is a reckoning: with the legacy of the Afghanistan withdrawal, with the integrity of the U.S. vetting system, and with the obligation of government to protect its own citizens.

And as Ratcliffe warned on Fox News, the cost of failure is measured not only in geopolitics — but in lives.