The U.S. Justice Department presented in a federal court in Virginia the alleged mastermind of the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The justice department said Islamic State Khorasan operative Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” was charged on March 2 with “providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.”
Sharifullah appeared in an Alexandria, Virginia, court not far from the U.S. capital Wednesday, wearing light blue prison garb and a black face mask, Agence France-Presse reported.
President Donald Trump broke the news of Sharifullah’s capture Tuesday night in a speech to Congress on Capitol Hill.
“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”
The Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021 also killed roughly 170 Afghans.
Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization linked with the Islamic State terror group, claimed responsibility.
The suicide attack came amid the chaotic troop withdrawal at the end of the 20-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
In this speech, Trump hailed Pakistan for helping with the mission to arrest Sharifullah.
“And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” the U.S. president said.
Sharifullah’s capture
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif identified Sharifullah as a “top tier commander” and an Afghan national in a post on X.
“The wanted terrorist was apprehended in a successful operation conducted in Pakistan-Afghan border region,” Sharif said, without sharing details.
The justice department said the mission was a multi-agency effort that also involved the CIA and the FBI.
“Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker,” the department said.
Sharifullah admitted to recognizing Abdul Rahman al-Logari who detonated the suicide bomb and admitted to playing a role in other attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, the statement added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told media, Wednesday Sharifullah was captured late last month based on US intelligence and Pakistani officials interrogated him first.
"US law enforcement officers travelled to Pakistan over the weekend, where he again confessed his crimes to the FBI." Leavitt said.
Islamabad-based security affairs analyst Iftikhar Firdous told VOA that Sharifullah, a resident of Kabul, joined ISIS-K in 2016.
“He was arrested in 2019 and then released during the jailbreak of the Afghan Taliban during their takeover of August 15, 2021,” said Firdous, founder of The Khorasan Diary, an online platform that monitors militancy.
If convicted, Sharifullah could get a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the justice department said.
Cooperation with Pakistan
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for acknowledging his country’s contribution in a post on the X social media platform.
“We thank U.S. President Donald Trump for acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan's role and support in counter terrorism efforts across the region,” Sharif posted.
“We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” the prime minister added.
The arrest signals Islamabad and Washington are working closely on some security issues despite relations reaching a low since the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power.
“The arrest shows that counter-terrorism cooperation between Pakistan and the US remains robust even though relations are largely confined to a narrow bandwidth focused on counterterrorism,” former Pakistani ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA.
“This is the first major development between both countries since the Trump administration took office,” Firdous said. “It also exemplifies the dependence of both countries on each other when it comes to counterterrorism cooperation.”
Thaw in ties?
Still, experts warned the joint effort and the public expression of gratitude from the highest offices should not be seen as a thaw in relations.
“One has to be careful not to over read the significance of a single event for Pakistan-US relations, that have been at a crossroads since the US exit from Afghanistan in 2021 and need high-level engagement for a reset,” Lodhi said.
Most military aid to Pakistan remains blocked since Trump put a freeze on it during his first term in office.
Many in Washington also blame Pakistan for the losses the United States incurred in the Afghan war.
In congressional hearings soon after the troop withdrawal, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Pakistan’s role in providing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban needed to be “fully examined.”
Antony Blinken, then-Secretary of State, told Congress in a September 2021 hearing that the Biden administration would look into the role Pakistan played during the war.
Nearly two dozen Republican senators also proposed a bill that called for “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020.”
Pakistan, a major non-NATO ally has consistently denied allegations of covertly providing support to Taliban while supporting the U.S. in the Afghan war.
“We remain steadfast in our resolve and unwavering commitment to combating terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations,” Sharif said in his X post Wednesday.
In a post on X, Washington-based South Asia expert Micheal Kugelman said Pakistan is interested in a new security partnership with the U.S.
“Pakistan wants to leverage U.S. concerns about terrorism in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership with the U.S.,” said Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, adding “it will be a hard sell to the administration.”
The joint counter-terrorism operation comes just days after the Trump administration released $397 million for a program that supports Pakistan’s use of F-16 fighter jets acquired from Washington. Islamabad is stipulated to use the fighter jets for only for counterterrorism purposes, and not against archrival India.
Afghanistan reacts
Hamdullah Fetrat, Afghan Taliban deputy spokesperson, told Afghan public broadcaster RTA that Sharifullah’s arrest showed ISIS-K militants were present in Pakistan.
“The arrest of a member of ISIS-K in Pakistan confirms that ISIS-K has hideouts and training centers in that region, and this also proves that ISIS-K does not have hideouts in Afghanistan,” Fitrat said an audio message in Pashto.
In a briefing last month United Nations counterterrorism officials said ISIS-K posed “a significant threat in Afghanistan, the region and beyond.”
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring anti-Pakistan militants and taking insufficient action to curb cross-border attacks. Taliban authorities reject the allegation.
