Trump says US has apprehended ‘top terrorist’ responsible for 2021 Kabul airport bombing

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Zachary Cohen, Jeremy Herb and Kaitlan Collins, CNN, Mar.5: President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that the US is transporting a “top terrorist” involved in the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan where 13 US service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians were killed.

Mohammad Sharifullah, who was allegedly involved in the planning of the bombing during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, is being moved to the US and being charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support for terrorism, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“Tonight, I am 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,” Trump said in his joint address to Congress.

Pakistan acted on CIA intelligence that led to the arrest of Sharifullah, according to another source familiar with the matter. In his speech, Trump thanked Pakistan for “helping arrest this monster.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned the message of gratitude in a statement issued on Wednesday, thanking Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan.”

Sharif said Pakistan’s security forces apprehended Sharifullah, an Afghan national, “in a successful operation conducted in Pakistan-Afghan border region.”

“We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” he added.

In his speech Tuesday, Trump once again attacked President Joe Biden over the handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, a criticism he made frequently on the campaign trail last year. Trump said he spoke to the families of the service members who were killed on a call before his speech “and they did nothing but cry with happiness.”

“This was a very momentous day for those 13 families, who I actually got to know very well, most of them whose children were murdered and the many people that were so badly – over 42 people so badly injured on that fateful day in Afghanistan,” Trump said. “What a horrible day. Such incompetence was shown.”

Sharifullah was charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with providing and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, according to an indictment unsealed late Tuesday.

He was interviewed by FBI agents on Sunday, where he told them he was recruited in 2016 into ISIS-K, a branch of ISIS. In the interview, Shariffullah “admitted to supporting and conducting activities on behalf of ISIS-K in support of multiple lethal attacks,” according to the indictment.

Sharifullah, who is also known as “Jafar,” according to the court documents, was in prison from 2019 until two weeks before the Abbey Gate attack. When he was released, he was contacted by ISIS members for assistance in the attack.

“Sharifullah was tasked with scouting a route near (Hamid Karzai International Airport) HKIA for an attacker. Sharifullah conducted surveillance on a route, specifically checking for law enforcement and American or Taliban checkpoints,” the court documents state.

“Sharifullah communicated to other ISIS-K members that he believed the route was clear and that he did not think the attacker would be detected while proceeding through that route.”

ISIS members instructed him to leave the area around the airport, the court documents state. “Later that same day, Sharifullah learned of the attack at HKIA described above and recognized the alleged bomber as an ISIS-K operative he had known while incarcerated.”

The indictment also details Sharifullal’s alleged involvement in two other attacks, claiming that he conducted surveillance and transported a bomber to an attack on embassy guards in Kabul in 2016, and provided weapons training for gunmen who carried out an attack on a Moscow nightclub last year.

Trump’s CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, raised the issue during his first phone call with the Pakistani intel chief, which took place during his first few days on the job, the source familiar added.

Senior members of the administration heralded the news.

“As President Trump just announced, I can report that tonight the FBI, DOJ, and CIA have extradited one of the terrorists responsible for the murder of the 13 American soldiers at Abbey Gate during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X shortly after Trump announced the arrest. “One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families.”

CNN’s Sophia Saifi contributed to this report