Afghan man shoots 2 soldiers in DC

Trump calls ambush an 'act of terror'

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Members of law enforcement stand near where two members of the National Guard were shot near the White House in Washington on Wednesday.

(NYT)

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Afghan man who fled the Taliban was the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House, calling it an “act of terror.”

The announcement, delivered in a brief video message, signalled the intertwining of three politically explosive issues — Mr Trump's controversial use of the military at home, immigration policy, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.

The incident, which left two Guard members critically wounded, was “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” Mr Trump said. “It was a crime against our entire nation.”

He confirmed that the man taken into custody after the daylight shooting two blocks from the White House was “a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan.”

The suspect had arrived in the United States in 2021 “on those infamous flights,” Mr Trump said, referring to the evacuations of Afghans who fled as the Taliban took control after the US withdrawal following 20 years of war.