Islamabad, December 4, 2025: Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday clarified that a man recently charged in the United States with illegally possessing firearms and plotting an attack is Afghan, disputing media reports that incorrectly linked him to Pakistan.
The suspect, Luqmaan Khan, 25, was arrested on November 24 after police in New Castle County, Delaware, found him parked after hours in Canby Park West. Authorities discovered multiple loaded Glock magazines, an armored ballistic plate, and a handwritten notebook detailing attack methods and entry points to a University of Delaware police facility, according to the US Attorney’s Office for Delaware.
Several US media outlets had described Khan as being of “Pakistan-origin.” Responding to the reports, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said, “According to our investigations, he is an Afghan national. He stayed in Pakistan as a refugee for a few years with his family before leaving for the US.”
A photo released by the New Castle County Police Department on December 2 shows the firearms recovered from Khan. Afghan authorities have not yet publicly commented on his nationality.
Khan’s arrest comes less than two weeks after a separate incident in which Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan asylee, allegedly shot two US National Guard soldiers on November 26, leaving one officer dead. Following that incident, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services temporarily halted asylum approvals for migrants from 19 “high-risk” countries, including Afghanistan, under a policy signed by the Trump administration.
Pakistan has repeatedly highlighted that militancy linked to Afghan networks is often mistakenly attributed to Pakistan due to decades of refugee movement. In line with this concern, Islamabad launched a nationwide expulsion campaign last year targeting undocumented Afghan residents.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, Pakistan has warned of rising militancy and radicalization originating from Afghan territory, a claim that Kabul has consistently denied.
