Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal was a brave soldier who fought against the Taliban, but he was not a U.S. service member. He was never granted a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). He was taken into ICE custody after his humanitarian parole expired and following two arrests, one for alleged fraud and one for alleged theft. Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Markus Maier, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Any man who fought against the Taliban is a hero, but that alone does not mean he qualifies for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). On November 26, 2025, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had served in a CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary unit, shot two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, killing one and critically wounding the other.

Following the shooting, President Trump ordered a “re-examination” of every Afghan national admitted to the United States under the Biden administration. An estimated 190,000 to 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States since the 2021 withdrawal, most under humanitarian parole rather than the SIV program.

On March 14, 2026, Afghan national Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal died in ICE custody in Richardson, Texas. Media coverage described him as a “special forces soldier,” wording that could be interpreted to mean he served in U.S. Special Forces. However, he was not a member of the U.S. military.

AfghanEvac states that he partnered with U.S. Army Special Forces, specifically the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), in Paktika Province beginning in 2005, rather than serving in the U.S. military.

AfghanEvac is an advocacy and volunteer coalition formed after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to help evacuate and resettle Afghans who worked with U.S. forces and to advocate for their immigration cases.

The phrase “worked with U.S. forces,” as used by AfghanEvac and in much of the reporting, is a broad umbrella term. It encompasses the full range of Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. mission, not just those in combat roles. This includes interpreters and translators, logistics and transportation contractors, drivers, base support personnel, including laundry, food service, construction, and maintenance workers, intelligence and cultural advisors, as well as members of partnered Afghan military or police units.

Many media reports have described Paktiawal and others as having “served the U.S. military” or as having advanced U.S. foreign policy objectives. However, it is important to remember that the war in Afghanistan was primarily an internal conflict between the Taliban and Afghans who did not want to live under Taliban rule. Various militias, security forces, and other organizations took up arms against the Taliban, representing a significant portion of the country’s population. They were fighting first and foremost for their own country, their own government, and their own freedom, even though their objectives often aligned with those of the United States.

Media coverage frequently portrays asylum cases involving resistance fighters or others who worked with U.S. forces as cases of people who “served America,” implying that the United States owes them a debt or is therefore obligated to grant them permanent residence or a green card. By that standard, however, millions of Afghans could make similar claims.

The fact that an Afghan fought the Taliban or otherwise supported the U.S.-backed Afghan government does not necessarily mean that he or she was fighting for the United States. In most cases, they were fighting for Afghanistan and for the future of their own country.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed Paktiawal’s claim that he worked with the U.S. military. However, according to media sources and his defense, he possessed a certificate from U.S. Army Special Forces thanking him for his “sacrifice and service.” At the same time, no source appears to indicate that the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the Pentagon has authenticated the certificate or independently corroborated his service record.

DHS maintains that it has no record of his military service, and that position has not been withdrawn or contradicted by any official Army or DoD statement. The principal evidence supporting Paktiawal’s account is a certificate that several media outlets report having seen. However, those outlets are not authorized to independently authenticate the document, and no official U.S. military source has publicly confirmed its authenticity.

He entered the United States through Washington Dulles International Airport on August 21, 2021, after being granted humanitarian parole by an immigration officer. Humanitarian parole is temporary permission to enter and remain in the United States for a fixed period, granted on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons. It is not a visa, does not confer permanent residency, is not a pathway to citizenship, and does not, by itself, provide any permanent immigration status. Paktiawal’s humanitarian parole expired on August 20, 2025.

Generally, someone who worked closely with U.S. forces could apply for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), the U.S. immigration program granting permanent residency to Afghans who worked directly for the U.S. government or military, if they met certain requirements. These included employment by or on behalf of the U.S. government or the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the NATO-led military coalition in Afghanistan, for at least 12 months between October 7, 2001, and December 31, 2024, with that service verified through a State Department review known as Chief of Mission approval.

However, Paktiawal did not have an SIV. Instead, he entered under the same general humanitarian parole status as roughly 76,000 other Afghans evacuated during the chaotic final days of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Given the chaos of the evacuation, many Afghans who likely qualified for an SIV did not have time to begin the application process and instead entered under humanitarian parole while pursuing asylum.

This, in and of itself, is not proof that Paktiawal did not serve or was not qualified for an SIV. However, it is one more data point that challenges the media narrative.

After arriving in the United States, he worked as a truck driver and later at a market and bakery. A federal rule revoking non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses for humanitarian parolees took effect that September, consistent with this timeline, although no source directly links the loss of his commercial driver’s license to the rule.

Dallas County records show that a grand jury indicted him on September 16, 2025, on a third-degree felony SNAP fraud charge involving benefits worth $200 or more. He posted a $3,000 bond, and no conviction has been recorded. He was separately arrested, but not indicted, for misdemeanor theft by Garland police on November 1, 2025. Again, no conviction has been recorded.

On the morning of March 13, 2026, ICE agents arrested Paktiawal outside his home in Richardson, Texas, citing his expired humanitarian parole and the pending SNAP fraud and theft cases as the basis for the arrest.

He was held that evening at ICE’s Dallas Field Office, where he complained of chest pain and shortness of breath. His family says he suffered from asthma and required an inhaler, which his wife attempted to provide to ICE agents during the arrest but was not accepted. This is consistent with ICE detention standards, which require that medications be distributed by facility medical staff rather than provided by detainees or outside individuals.

ICE transported him to Parkland Memorial Hospital for observation. The following morning, while eating breakfast at the hospital, staff noticed that his tongue had become severely swollen. They administered epinephrine to treat what was later identified as a severe allergic reaction, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. on March 14, 2026.

Media reports state that his family claims he was in the country legally. However, a pending asylum application does not confer lawful immigration status. It grants only an authorized stay while the case is processed, which does not, by itself, prevent detention or removal proceedings.

Regarding his arrests, DHS does not need a conviction to terminate parole or pursue removal. An arrest or indictment alone can serve as sufficient grounds under its discretionary standards, which is what ICE cited in his case.

His death was ruled accidental, with the death certificate citing anaphylaxis associated with asthma, along with methamphetamine toxicity, cardiovascular disease, and smoking, as contributing conditions. His family and an independent pathologist dispute those findings. However, the family is not known to have specialized medical training or the qualifications to determine cause of death. The independent pathologist found “nothing remarkable” regarding his underlying physical health, but was not able to conduct independent toxicology testing because the body had already been embalmed.

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