An Afghan migrant accused of planning to launch an ISIS-inspired Election Day terrorist attack in America used to work for the CIA, a bombshell report reveals.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, whose arrest in the U.S. was announced earlier this week by the Justice Department, had been a security guard for the intelligence agency in Afghanistan, NBC News reported.
The CIA did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The Justice Department said Tawhedi ‘conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIS and obtained firearms and ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS.’
He is accused of plotting to purchase automatic assault riffles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several magazines but was stopped after authorities broke up the deal.
Tawhedi entered the U.S. on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.
He was arrested on Monday with an unnamed alleged co-conspirator, who is a juvenile relative.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month
Before his arrest he had liquidated his family’s assets and bought one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.
‘Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,’ FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement on Tuesday.
After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for providing support to ISIS, and 15 years for obtaining a firearm to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.
‘Following the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, more than 77K Afghans were given humanitarian parole, with little to no vetting and no intent to know their whereabouts,’ Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote earlier this week when the arrest was announced.
‘Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi -the terrorist plotting an election day attack – was one of them.’
‘Whether it’s their open border policies or failed foreign policy, this administration continues to risk American lives by allowing terrorists, murders, rapists, and other violent criminals into our homeland.’
Afghans Taliban security officials stand guard as they check people and vehicles at a checkpoint, in Kabul, Afghanistan, 13 September 2024
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization
In congressional testimony about the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan many witnesses have decried the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to leave the country.
The U.S. surrendered Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan where scores of ISIS prisoners were being kept.
That base also reportedly had sensitive areas used by the CIA.
After the evacuation, the Bagram prisoners were freed and the U.S. military equipment and intelligence left behind at the site.
An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators’ radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack.
Afghan National Army keep watch after the US forces left Bagram airfield in the north of Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 5, 2021. The foreigner forces left Bagram airbase after nearly 20 years
A convoy of Taliban security personnel seen moving along the streets as they celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, in Herat on August 14, 2024
Taliban security personnel take part in a military parade to celebrate the third anniversary of the Taliban government takeover, in Bagram, Afghanistan, 14 August 2024. The Taliban seized control of Kabul on 15 August 2021, following the collapse of the US-backed government amidst the chaotic withdrawal of foreign troops
A photograph from July included in the affidavit depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, ‘a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.’
Attorney General Merrick Garland said: ‘As charged, the Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on U.S. soil on Election Day.
‘We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people.’
He added: ‘I am deeply grateful to the public servants of the FBI, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma for their work to disrupt this attack and for the work they do every day to protect our country.’
According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.
Afghans struggle to reach the foreign forces to show their credentials to flee the country outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, 26 August 2021. At least 13 people including children were killed in a blast outside the airport on 26 August. The blast occurred outside the Abbey Gate and follows recent security warnings of attacks ahead of the 31 August deadline for US troops withdrawal
Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16, 2021. Tawhedi was in the U.S. not a month after this photo was taken
It said an FBI ‘confidential human source’ contacted Tawhedi after he recently advertised the sale of his family’s personal property on Facebook.
The FBI source said he needed a computer for a gun business he was starting and Tawhedi expressed interest in purchasing two AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, according to the complaint.
On Monday, Tawhedi and the juvenile met with ‘FBI assets’ at a rural location in Oklahoma and purchased two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition, it said.
