U.S. authorities have apprehended a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) member to face criminal prosecution in connection with the bombing attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021, in which 13 U.S. troops were killed as U.S. forces oversaw the final civilian evacuation and force withdrawal from Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump announced the ISIS suspect’s arrest and extradition on March 4, while addressing a joint session of Congress. The president indicated the Pakistani government assisted in the arrest.
The U.S. Department of Justice, on March 5, identified the arrested ISIS suspect as Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar.” According to the DOJ, Sharifullah was part of the Islamic State offshoot in the Khorasan region. This region spans eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
ISIS-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, has primarily operated in Afghanistan, but has established a presence in Pakistan. ISIS-K has also reportedly claimed responsibility for a Jan. 4, 2024 attack in Iran, and for the March 22, 2024 attack on the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia.
U.S. authorities are transporting Sharifullah to the United States to face charges in the U.S. District Court for Virginia’s Eastern federal court district.
A criminal affidavit published by the DOJ reiterates ISIS-K’s pattern of attacks and the group’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization. The affidavit states that an FBI agent interviewed Sharifullah on March 2 of this year, during which the suspect admitted to assisting other ISIS-K members in multiple deadly attacks.
The first attack to which Sharifullah admitted his support was a June 20, 2016 suicide bombing at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, resulting in the deaths of 10 embassy guards and the wounding of additional troops and civilians in the vicinity. According to the affidavit, Sharifullah admitted to conducting surveillance to prepare a suicide bomber and lead him to the intended target.
According to the affidavit, Sharifullah was imprisoned in Afghanistan until about two weeks before the August 2021 attack at the Kabul airport. Sharifullah again allegedly admitted to surveilling the route the bomber took to carry out this attack.
The Kabul airport attack resulted in the deaths of 11 U.S. Marines, one U.S. Army special operations soldier, and a U.S. Navy corpsman. Around 170 more Afghan civilians were also killed, while more than 150 others were injured, including 18 U.S. troops and several Taliban militants monitoring the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Sharifullah also allegedly confessed to providing firearms training to ISIS-K gunmen who carried out the Crocus City Hall attack.
A criminal complaint lists a single charge against Sharifullah for providing material support to designated terrorist organizations.
If convicted, Sharifullah faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Charging documents didn’t specify exactly when and how Pakistani authorities arrested Sharifullah.
In a Wednesday press statement, FBI Director Kash Patel credited the CIA with assisting in the operation.
“The FBI will never forget the loss of these American heroes, we will continue to hunt down those who viciously murdered our warriors, we will find all responsible and bring them to justice,” Patel added.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
