Thousands of Afghans brought to the United States under former President Biden’s 2021 evacuation program triggered security alarms in federal databases, and hundreds remain flagged as potential national security risks years later, internal Department of Homeland Security records show.

According to DHS data provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and reported by The New York Post, US agencies identified “potential derogatory information” on 6,868 Afghans who entered the country through Operation Allies Welcome following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Of those, 5,005 were flagged with possible national security concerns, 956 with public-safety issues, and 876 for suspected fraud. While many of those red flags were later resolved, DHS acknowledged that as of September, 885 individuals still had unresolved “potentially negative” national security information attached to their files.

The disclosure lands amid intense criticism of the Afghan resettlement pipeline after suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal — who officials say had worked alongside the CIA in Afghanistan — gunned down two National Guard members near the White House last week, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounding Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.

In response to the attack, President Trump on Wednesday ordered an immediate review of vetting and security protocols for migrants from 19 “high-risk” countries, as well as a re-examination of asylum approvals granted under the previous administration.

Grassley, who has spent years warning about “glaring red flags” in Operation Allies Welcome, said the newly released figures vindicate his concerns.

“I spent years calling attention to the weak vetting standards in Operation Allies Welcome, despite considerable pushback from the Biden administration and many of my colleagues in Congress,” Grassley told The Post. “Sadly, this past week’s tragedy in Washington only validates my concerns further. I appreciate the Trump administration’s efforts to respond to my oversight and restore order in the wake of the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the chaos that followed.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem transmitted the data to Grassley on Sept. 9, three days after DHS’s Inspector General issued a report finding that the department had “encountered obstacles to screen, vet and inspect all evacuees” during the mass airlift.

A separate DHS IG review concluded that the government used a “fragmented process” to handle security concerns flagged during the resettlement push, while a Justice Department watchdog found that 55 individuals on a federal terror watchlist still managed to reach a US port as of May 2023 — some of them added to the list in real time as the evacuation was underway.

“According to the FBI, the need to immediately evacuate Afghans overtook the normal processes required to determine whether individuals attempting to enter the United States pose a threat to national security,” the DOJ IG wrote, warning that the rushed operation “increased the risk that bad actors could try to exploit the expedited evacuation.”

That warning has already borne out in federal court.

While the inspector general’s office was still compiling its report, prosecutors charged two Afghan nationals — Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi and Abdullah Haji Zada — with plotting an ISIS-inspired attack to disrupt the 2024 elections in Oklahoma City. Tawhedi, who entered the US in 2021 on a Special Immigrant Visa and later obtained two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, pleaded guilty in June to providing material support to ISIS and faces up to 35 years in prison. Zada, 19, was sentenced to 15 years.

Tawhedi reportedly worked as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe disclosed hours after last week’s Guard shooting that Lakanwal had also worked alongside the agency overseas, bluntly saying the alleged gunman “should never have been allowed to come here.”

“It sounds like they may have vouched for this guy,” former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told The Post, noting that foreign cooperators and assets “play both ends all the time.”

As the administration moves to re-check thousands of files, Swecker said future vetting efforts must be far more rigorous and individualized.

“You have to have an analyst or an agent look at every doggone one of them and do it critically and set some objective criteria for disqualification,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re just rolling the dice on national security.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)