Afghan national with Election Day terror plot WAS prior CIA contractor, radicalized for ISIS after moving to US

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Previously, LET reported on an Election Day terrorist attack plotted by an Afghan national being thwarted by federal authorities. Now, it's been revealed that the man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, had previously worked for the CIA in Afghanistan.

Reportedly, Tawhedi had been living in Oklahoma City on a special immigrant visa when he was arrested for the terror plot, which was said to be on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS). 
 

“Every Afghan resettled in the U.S. undergoes a rigorous screening and vetting process no matter which agency they worked with,” an official said to NBC. “That process includes checking against a full range of US records and holdings.”

However, Fox News reported while he was living in the US on a special immigration visa (SIV), he first came here through humanitarian parole, which means he would have had to go through "screening and vetting" in a different country before being allowed into the US. The State Department said that he'd applied for SIV and the application was granted, but the process wasn't officially completed.

Tawhedi started this process along with approximately 70,000 other Afghanistans following the botched withdrawal of US troops in 2021.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson spoke to Fox News Digital, saying, "Afghan evacuees who sought to enter the United States were subject to multilayered screening and vetting against intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism information. If new information emerges after arrival, appropriate action is taken."

Authorities have said there were no "red flags" that would have caused concern with Tawhedi being allowed in the US. He reportedly became radicalized and started working with ISIS after his entry into the US, which has happened multiple times in past terror plots on US soil.

Tawhedi and a juvenile were set to be martyrs, targeting "large gatherings of people" on Election Day, according to his seized communications. Tawhedi shared his plans with an FBI confidential informant, which led to his arrest. The juvenile, while not named, was identified as Tawhedi's brother-in-law, and reportedly entered the US in 2018 under an even "stricter SIV program."

Tawhedi is facing charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a gun to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.