Relative of Afghan accused of Election Day terror plot in US is charged for planned attack in France

A family member of the Afghan national arrested last week on charges of planning a mass terrorist act in Oklahoma on Election Day was arrested and charged in France on Saturday for planning to conduct terrorist attacks on either a French soccer match or a shopping center, according to NBC News. 

Though French officials didn’t name the family member in France, they said the 22-year-old Afghan was indicted for plotting attacks against civilians and placed in pretrial detention. There were two people detained along with him, who were released, but officials said the investigation is ongoing. 

Both Afghans are believed to have planned to carry out their attacks on behalf of ISIS, according to the officials, although it isn’t known whether their plans were coordinated in the two countries.  

The Afghan arrested in Oklahoma on Oct. 7, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27,  had contributed to an ISIS charity in March and accessed online ISIS propaganda, according to court documents. 

Sources told NBC News that Tawhedi had worked as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan making him eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa and that he had entered the U.S. in September 2021 on what is known as humanitarian parole, about a month after the American military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan.