Afghan national on parole in US arrested in alleged ISIS terror plot for election day

An Afghan who was in the U.S. on parole thanks to the Biden administration’s U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has been arrested over an election day terror plot.

An unsealed criminal complaint by the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the plot involved the stockpiling of AK-47s, an AR-15 and a 9mm handgun.

“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement.

In an interview after his arrest, the alleged Afghan terrorist, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, admitted that he planned to use the weapons to target “large gatherings of people, during which he and the juvenile [he included in the plot] were expected to die as martyrs” said the DOJ.

Tawhedi, 27, entered the U.S. on Sept. 9, 2021, just after the Biden administration’s hasty withdrawal of American forces in August 2021. Tawhedi was able to enter under a parole program reserved for Afghans who assisted U.S. forces during the U.S. war, said the criminal complaint.

Last month a House committee released a report that blamed the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the crush of Afghan refugees on poor planning and execution by the Biden administration. 

Scenes from Afghanistan at the time showed Afghans clinging to the side of military aircraft and ultimately falling to their death in a desperate dash for freedom as the U.S. withdrew from the country. 

Many Afghan nationals arrived in the U.S. without any documentation and were granted paroles. 

The DOJ didn’t say how Tawhedi, who lives in Oklahoma City, first came to the attention of the FBI. 

However, he had been liquidating personal assets, including a house that sold for $185,000, while planning to resettle his family overseas prior to the attack.   

He purchased one-way tickets to Kabul, Afghanistan for his wife, children, mother and siblings, according to the DOJ complaint, which may have led the FBI to scrutinize Tawhedi. 

He also was selling items on Facebook, which the FBI used to have an agency asset contact Tawhedi, said the complaint.   

The agency asset told Tawhedi that he was starting a gun business. Tawhedi took the bait and tried to buy guns from the FBI’s asset, which included going to a gun range to fire the weapons. 

The firing range session was reportedly recorded on video by mutual consent.  

On Oct. 7, Tawhedi took possession of two AK-47 rifles, which led to his immediate arrest. 

After the arrest, FBI agents searched the alleged terrorist’s phone and discovered that he had been in contact with a known ISIS recruiter. 

“We found a person who deals with weapons. He found it for us,” Tawhedi told the ISIS recruiter via the instant messaging app Telegram, according to the complaint. “They are smuggled. We bought two, they are Kalashnikovs. We are two people, we bought two. Each one costs $1,200.00. Everything will perhaps be $3,000.00 in total. We have ordered 500 bullets. What do you think, brother? Is it enough or should we increase it?” 

While the complaint revealed no specific targeted location, federal investigators say in July Tawhedi searched for surveillance and security cameras in Washington, D.C., and looked at webcams featuring the White House and Washington Monument, reported CBS.  

“Tawhedi also allegedly accessed, viewed, and saved ISIS propaganda on his iCloud and Google account, participated in pro-ISIS Telegram groups, and contributed to a charity which fronts for and funnels money to ISIS,” said the DOJ. 

Under Biden, the numbers of illegal immigrants released on the same type of parole that allowed Tawhedi in the U.S. has skyrocketed since 2021. 

In 2019, prior to COVID-19, the number of illegal aliens granted parole status was 16.2%, according to TRAC Immigration at Syracuse University, which provides a clearinghouse about staffing, spending, and enforcement activities by the federal government. 

Under Biden, the numbers have steadily increased to more than double that, to 38.2% of illegal immigrants granted paroles through the first 10 months of 2023, representing 788,953 parolees, said TRAC.  

Those numbers do not include people who claim asylum but lack documentation. 

Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. 

He was also charged with receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, if convicted. 

Federal sentences may run concurrently or consecutively, depending on the discretion of the judge.