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For years before he allegedly traveled across the country and shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal struggled with severe mental health issues. He would sometimes isolate himself for weeks on end or experience “manic” episodes during which he would embark on lengthy drives in the family car, according to emails sent by a community advocate working to help him and his family. The advocate suggested that Lakanwal suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his time fighting the Taliban with the U.S. military, and dealt with challenges adjusting to his new life in Washington state.
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“Rahmanullah was a man who was extremely proud and capable in the world he came from, who felt defeated in the world he came to,” the advocate, who volunteered supporting Afghan families in the state, told CBS News.
Lakanwal is among tens of thousands of Afghans who have resettled in the U.S. after aiding the American military in Afghanistan. His struggle with assimilation and his mental health, as described in the emails the advocate shared in the wake of his arrest, is familiar to others who belong to or work within that community. Many such Afghan refugees have confronted an uphill battle in adapting to life in the U.S., feeling estranged from their home country and as though they don’t have the support or tools necessary to thrive in their new one, experts and Afghan veterans now living in the U.S. tell TIME.
“They’re starved for resources,” says Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, an organization that supports and advocates for Afghan nationals who came to the U.S. after assisting the country’s military. “Afghans just feel totally left behind, totally betrayed and totally unwanted.”
Seven months before Lakanwal was identified as the suspected gunman in the shooting in D.C., another Afghan national who worked with American troops in his home country…
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