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Suspect in Kabul bombing that killed 13 US soldiers to face charges in Virginia Suspect in Kabul airport bombing during 2021 Afghanistan pullout appears in court
(about 7 hours later)
Officials accuse Mohammad Sharifullah of being a member of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliateOfficials accuse Mohammad Sharifullah of being a member of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate
A suspected senior planner in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 US service members during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has been taken into custody and will appear on Wednesday in federal court in the United States to face charges. A suspected participant in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians during the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan arrived in the US on Wednesday to face criminal charges in connection with the attack.
Donald Trump announced the arrest during his Tuesday night address to Congress, with the White House and the justice department subsequently identifying the suspect as Mohammad Sharifullah. Mohammad Sharifullah was taken into custody over the weekend, and admitted during an FBI interrogation to being a member of the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan and to his role in the August 2021 suicide bombing and other attacks, according to US officials.
Officials accuse him of being a member of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, known as Isis-Khorasan, or Isis-K, and say he admitted his role in that attack and others during an interview with FBI agents on Sunday after being taken into custody. Donald Trump announced the arrest during his Tuesday night address to Congress, telling the audience that he was “pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”
Senior Pakistani intelligence officers on Wednesday confirmed the arrest and said Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, was captured in the country’s restive south-west Balochistan province near the border with Afghanistan after multiple operations had failed to seize him. Senior Pakistani intelligence officers on Wednesday confirmed the arrest and said Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, had been captured in the country’s restive south-west Balochistan province near the border with Afghanistan after multiple operations had failed to seize him.
The officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said Sharifullah had joined the militant group in 2016 and was involved in numerous attacks across Afghanistan. Sharifullah is charged in federal court in Virginia with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death. In court on Wednesday, he wore a light-blue jail jumpsuit and listened through headphones as an interpreter translated the proceedings. His public defender declined to comment after his court appearance, which ended with him being taken away for holding at least until a detention hearing set for Monday.
Sharifullah is charged in federal court in Virginia with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death. He will face a judge on Wednesday and be assigned a lawyer to speak on his behalf. Additional charges are possible as the case moves through the court system. The Abbey gate bombing, in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country amid the withdrawal by US forces from the country, occurred in August 2021 when a suicide bomber attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport. In addition to 13 US service members, about 170 Afghans were killed in the attack, which triggered widespread congressional criticism and undermined public confidence in the Biden administration’s handling of the conclusion of the war.
Trump, in his address to Congress, said he was “pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.” According to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the case, Sharifullah admitted under questioning to having joined the Afghanistan-based Islamic State-Khorasan, also known as Isis-K, in 2016. He told investigators that he had been in prison from 2019 until about two weeks before the bombing, at which point he was contacted by another Isis-K member about helping in the attack, the affidavit said.
The Abbey Gate bombing, in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country amid the withdrawal by US forces from the country, occurred in August 2021 when a suicide bomber attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport. He was given a motorcycle, funds for a cellphone and a Sim card, as well as instructions for communicating via social media during the attack operation, prosecutors said. He admitted to participating in the Abbey gate attack by scouting a route to the airport for the bomber and communicating to other members of the militant group that the path was clear.
Besides 13 US service members, about 170 Afghans were also killed in the attack, which triggered widespread congressional criticism and undermined public confidence in Joe Biden’s administration. Sharifullah said he had been instructed to leave the area and later learned that the bombing had been done by an Isis-K operative he had met while jailed, the affidavit said.
According to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the case, Sharifullah admitted under questioning to having joined Isis-K in 2016 and to having participated in the Abbey Gate bombing by scouting a route to the airport for the bomber and communicating to other members of the militant group that the path was clear. The bomber was identified as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been in an Afghan prison but was released by the Taliban as the group took control of the country that summer.
The bomber was later identified as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State group militant who had been in an Afghan prison but was released by the Taliban as the group took control of the country that summer. During his FBI interrogation, Sharifullah also said he had shared firearms and weapons instructions before a March 2024 attack at a Moscow concert hall that was also carried out by Isis-K and killed scores of people, authorities said.
During his FBI interrogation, Sharifullah also said he had shared firearms and weapons instructions before a March 2024 attack in Moscow that was also carried out by Isis-K, authorities said. Sharifullah was arrested in 2019 by the US-backed Afghan government at the time but escaped from prison on 15 August 2021, as the Taliban took Kabul.
The Pakistani officials said Sharifullah had planned the bombing from behind bars with other senior militant figures. They said he had remained on the run in the border areas of Balochistan until his arrest through a joint intelligence-sharing operation between Pakistan and the US.
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Sharifullah was arrested in 2019 by the US-backed Afghan government at the time but escaped from prison on 15 August 2021, as the Taliban took Kabul. Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, thanked Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating” the country’s role in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani officials said Sharifullah had planned the bombing from behind bars with other senior militant figures. They said he remained on the run in the border areas of Balochistan until his arrest through a joint intelligence-sharing operation between Pakistan and the US. “We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” Sharif said on the social media platform X.
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, thanked Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating” the country’s role in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan. From Kabul, the Taliban chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, declined to comment beyond saying that the arrest “on Pakistani soil” of an Afghan national and member of the Islamic State group shows that IS group figures “have taken refuge and established havens” inside Pakistan.
“We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” Sharif said on the social platform X. “This issue has nothing to do with Afghanistan,” Mujahid said. The regional Islamic State affiliate is a rival group of the Afghan Taliban.
Trump, a Republican, repeatedly condemned Biden’s role in the Afghanistan withdrawal on the campaign trail and blamed Biden, a Democrat, for the Abbey gate attack. A review last year by US Central Command concluded that the attack had not been preventable despite assertions by some service members who believed they had had a chance to take out the would-be bomber but did not get approval.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity Tuesday night to discuss a case that had yet to be unsealed, said Sharifullah’s arrest came after fresh US intelligence community coordination, increased intelligence sharing and pressure on regional partners to bring those responsible for the attack to account since Trump’s swearing-in in January.