Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national and father of five, spent the closing years of Afghanistan’s long conflict with a CIA‑backed “Zero Unit” – a paramilitary group that recruited locals to fight the Taliban. The unit was known for nighttime raids and covert operations, but it also faced accusations from human rights groups of brutal tactics, including executions and village terror.
According to a friend who grew up with Lakanwal, the young man struggled deeply with the violence he endured as a member of that unit. “When he saw blood, bodies, and the wounded, he could not tolerate it,” the friend recalled. “It put a lot of pressure on his mind,” the same source told the New York Times. Lakanwal confided that whatever he had done was too much to bear, suggesting the weight of those experiences haunted him well beyond the war zone.
The former operative’s recent shooting of two National Guard members just blocks from the White House underscores the unresolved trauma that can linger for veterans.
“He would tell me and our friends that their military operations were very tough, their job was very difficult, and they were under a lot of pressure,” the friend added to the Times.
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