Exclusive | Afghan man accused of supporting ISIS held top government intel post in former country

Last week, a man from Afghanistan was taken into custody in Virginia on accusations that he helped a terrorist group. The Post reports that he once held a senior role in his homeland’s national security apparatus.

Jaan Shah Safi, 48, was booked in Waynesboro, VA, and the Department of Homeland Security labeled him an “illegal alien terrorist.” On Dec. 3, the agency announced that he had supported ISIS‑K and “provided weapons to his father who is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan.”

Yet the DHS briefing omitted that Safi had served as deputy director of the National Directorate of Security—Afghanistan’s intelligence agency analogous to the CIA—in Nangarhar province.

He is among the thousands of Afghans who entered the United States under President Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome.

“He’s not just a soldier or just a commander. He was a very senior guy, Haibatullah Alizai, who served as chief of staff of the Afghan Army during the last days before the fall of Kabul, told The Post.”

Alizai added that during another period of Safi’s career he was “the most key intelligence guy in Kunar Province.” He and other Afghan expatriates were surprised to learn of the arrest. “This family has always been a counterterrorism family. They are famous for that.”

The Trump administration disclosed Safi’s arrest just days after the capture of a former National Guard member, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who faced first‑degree murder charges for shooting 20‑year‑old Sarah Beckstrom in Washington, D.C. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty.

“This terrorist was arrested miles from our nation’s capital where our brave National Guard heroes, Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, were shot just days ago by another unvetted Afghan terrorist brought into our country,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.

Another Afghan, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, was taken into custody in Texas and is charged with federal offenses for allegedly threatening to blow up two men in a heated TikTok group chat.

In its announcement, DHS noted that the case “marks the third arrest of an Afghan national terrorist released into the country by the Biden administration in less than a week.”

Rahmatullah Nabil, who once led Afghanistan’s security directorate, questioned the arrest on X, arguing that Safi, whom DHS stated lost his Temporary Protected Status in the U.S., deserves recognition for “his work in counter‑terrorism, identifying extremist networks, and handling intelligence sources.”

A pro‑Taliban page on X claimed that Safi was a “pawn” and an oppressor, stating his family had backed ISIS.