Relative of Afghan accused of terror plot in U.S. is charged with planning attack in France

A family member of an Afghan national accused of planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Oklahoma on Election Day was charged in France on Saturday with plotting to conduct attacks on a French soccer match or shopping center, according to the Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office in Paris.

Both Afghans are believed to have wanted to carry out the operations on behalf of ISIS, the officials said. It is not known whether they planned to coordinate their attacks in the U.S. and France.

French officials said the Afghan charged there was 22 years old but declined to name him. They also did not identify two other individuals who were also taken into police custody in France for questioning and released.

The Afghan arrested in Oklahoma on Oct. 7, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was accused of plotting a violent attack with an assault rifle on behalf of ISIS on Nov. 5, the day Americans head to the polls. Court documents said Tawhedi had contributed to an ISIS charity in March and accessed online ISIS propaganda.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter later told NBC News that Tawhedi worked as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan. Court documents say Tawhedi entered the U.S. in September 2021, about a month after the American military completed its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Read more: NBC News