The suspected Afghan terrorist accused of gunning down two National Guard troops just blocks from the White House struggled for years with the violence he committed as part of a CIA-backed “Zero Unit” force in his home country, according to a longtime friend.
“When he saw blood, bodies, and the wounded, he could not tolerate it,” said a childhood friend of 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
“It put a lot of pressure on his mind,” the friend told the New York Times.
Lakanwal, a father of five, spent time serving with a CIA-associated “Zero Unit” toward the end of the decades-long war in Afghanistan – a paramilitary outfit that used locals to battle the Taliban. They were accused of using brutal tactics and being “death squads,” according to some humanitarian groups.
The unit specialized in nighttime raids and covert operations, but has also been accused of meting out executions and terrorizing local villages.
Lakanwal’s exact role in the unit remains unclear – but he reportedly confided in his friends at home that whatever he did was too much to bear.
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“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 told the Times.
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