An attempt at explaining an alleged driving factor in the attack on National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. was met with disgust, “Stop excusing terrorism with psychobabble …”
Corporate media coverage appeared to be exhausting any possible motive it could theorize regarding the murder of West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom save for the one believed by many to be the most likely. So it was that, while West Virginia Air National Guard Andrew Wolfe reportedly remained in critical condition following the attack, stories had surfaced about the alleged suspect’s post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not long after the attack on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday in Washington, D.C., Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal had been identified as the alleged suspect. As details emerged about his time living in Washington state with his family after leaving Afghanistan around the time of botched withdrawal under President Joe Biden’s administration, so too was it made apparent the service that the suspect had provided in his home country.
CBS News spoke with former Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat of the Afghan National Special Operations Corps and reported, “Lakanwal’s family faced serious threats from the Taliban which led him to relocate them from their native Khost province to Kabul, Sadat said. In the U.S., Sadat said Lakanwal was ‘generally calm and maintained a clean record, though he suffered from PTSD.'”
The outlet detailed the suspect’s eight year tenure with the Kandahar Strike Force as his “03” unit was one of the “Zero Units” working with outside military forces like the United States during the war in Afghanistan.
“He was known for being responsible and professional within his team and had strong anti-Taliban views,” said Sadat. “While we could not establish any connection between him and any terrorist organization, we also cannot completely rule it out. However, we can confirm that his background does not show any links to terrorists.”
“The units were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s previous, U.S.-backed government. They were considered by the U.S. and its international partners to be among the most trusted domestic forces in Afghanistan,” reported CBS.
“Those units are often labeled ‘death squads’ by human rights groups,” the report continued. “The units were known in Afghanistan for their secrecy and alleged brutality, and members were implicated in numerous extrajudicial killings of civilians, particularly during night raids.”
Additionally, CBS News indicated that a U.S. official had confirmed the suspect to have been disturbed by casualties in his unit as well as a more recent killing of a friend overseas.
Similarly, sources told the New York Post that investigators are exploring whether the PTSD had a role in the attack, as well as the possibility that the suspect had been acting on an ideology or at the behest of a foreign influence.
Of course, such theories that smacked of excuses for the heinous attack on American service members didn’t sit well with the general public. In addition to pointing out examples of people with PTSD who “wouldn’t hurt a soul,” reactions ripped into reports seemingly ignoring the alleged “obvious.”
“This post is infuriating because it tiptoes around the obvious: the shooter is a violent jihadist with a history of anti-American rants, not some tragic PTSD case,” alleged one X post. “Our vets deal with real trauma daily without snapping and gunning down innocents. Stop excusing terrorism with psychobabble–deport him, prosecute to the fullest, and protect our troops.”
This post is infuriating because it tiptoes around the obvious: the shooter is a violent jihadist with a history of anti-American rants, not some tragic PTSD case. Our vets deal with real trauma daily without snapping and gunning down innocents. Stop excusing terrorism with…
— FloridaTropics (@TropicsFlorida) November 28, 2025
I know plenty of people with PTSD and they never hurt a soul.
— Tired of being politically correct (@USBornNRaised) November 29, 2025
Sorry but you don’t get to blame PTSD on this one. PTSD isn’t something that causes someone to grab a rifle and go hunt down two soldiers.
If you think this then you don’t understand what PTSD even is.
And there are literally hundreds of thousands of combat vets that haven’t… https://t.co/88CJ577axX
— JohnBurk (@johnburk39) November 28, 2025
We don’t give a rat’s ass if he had PTSD. He should NOT have been here. Period.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) November 29, 2025
Stop making excuses for him
— Washingtons ghost (@washghost1) November 28, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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