'Even 10 Trumps Won't Fix This': Ex-US Soldier Slams Afghan Immigration Ban

Former US soldier Ahmad Shah Mohibi has pushed back against the Trump administration's sweeping crackdown on Afghan immigrants following the Washington, DC shooting involving Afghan-origin suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal.

Mohibi argued that Afghanistan is being unfairly scapegoated, insisting the country itself is not the problem.

Mohibi explained that the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme was initially designed for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters and translators who assisted US forces but over time expanded to include anyone and everyone.

The Special Visa program was created for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters.
Instead, the U.S. brought in anyone and everyone like this Afghan officer who shot our National Guard members.

We have an immigration problem in 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/DopsOVBPVj

— Ahmad Shah Mohibi (@ahmadsmohibi) November 27, 2025

Lakanwal did not arrive under the SIV programme. He entered the United States through former President Joe Biden's Operation Allies Welcome initiative, launched after the US withdrawal and the Taliban's takeover. The programme was intended to protect vulnerable Afghans fleeing danger. Lakanwal had also worked with the CIA. He later applied for refugee status in 2024 and received approval earlier this year under the Trump administration.

In the hours after the shooting, US President Donald Trump halted all Green Card processing for Afghan nationals, labelling Afghanistan a "hellhole". 

He then ordered a sweeping review of immigrants from 19 countries. The list included Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Mohibi condemned the blanket targeting of Afghans. "My point is just because he (Lakanwal) grabbed a gun and shot our soldiers does not mean the whole of the Afghan population is terrorists and everyone has to be penalised," he said. He added that the chaotic 2021 evacuation, during which "US soldiers opened gates for all Afghans", created long-term problems. According to him, even aggressive enforcement wouldn't fix what he considers a broken system, "ICE can go house to house, but even 10 Donald Trumps won't be able to solve this problem because there is an immigration failure."

He also blamed decades of bipartisan mismanagement. "They don't know what to do. There is a lottery programme, and there is an open border programme. Immigration in this country is not a Republican or Democratic problem. It is a broader systematic problem, and none of the presidents from Bush to Trump have any clue how to tackle immigration," Mohibi said.

Afghan-American advocates shared similar concerns. According to AP, Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group AfghanEvac, warned that the administration was using the incident to justify long-standing policy goals. "They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them," he said.