ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An Afghan national went on trial Monday in federal court on accusations that he played a key role in the 2021 suicide bombing at a Kabul airport that killed more than 180 people, including 13 U.S. service members, during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Mohammad Sharifullah, known as “Jafar,” is charged with one count of providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization — ISIS-K, the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate — resulting in death. He has pleaded not guilty.
A jury was chosen Monday and began hearing opening statements and witness testimony. If convicted, Sharifullah could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
On Aug. 26, 2021, U.S. and other coalition forces were conducting an evacuation operation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, and Abbey Gate was the main entry point for the operation. Thousands of civilians swarmed, hoping to evacuate the country due to fears of the Taliban’s rise in power.
At approximately 5:36 p.m., ISIS-K member Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated a body-worn bomb.
Prosecutors said that in FBI interviews after waiving his Miranda rights, Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker.
Sharifullah specifically checked for law enforcement and American or Taliban checkpoints, and then communicated to other ISIS-K members that he believed the route was clear and that the attacker would not be detected, prosecutors said.
Sharifullah said he had been in prison until two weeks before the bombing, according to court papers. He told the FBI he was recruited after his release and was provided a motorcycle and a cellphone.
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia John Gibbs said once Sharifullah was in custody, he was chatty with authorities, participating in five FBI interviews — two on the ground in Pakistan, two during the flight from the Middle East to the U.S., and one in the United States.
“You will hear his words, and you will see a great deal of evidence of his guilt,” Gibbs said in his opening statement.
Federal Public Defender Geremy Kamens said bluntly that the U.S. had the wrong man and that Sharifullah's comments were given under duress.
“This man, Mohammad Sharifullah, had nothing to do with it,” Kamens said. “The question in this case is not really about what happened. But about who is responsible.”
The government called witnesses to set the stage for Sharifullah’s suspected involvement in not just the Abbey Gate bombing, but in other attacks.
Georgetown University professor and terrorism and counterterrorism expert Bruce Hoffman detailed for jurors how ISIS operated and how the Afghanistan withdrawal played out, calling the scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport ahead of the bombing “complete pandemonium.”
In cross-examination, Sharifullah's attorney sought to place blame on the Taliban, discussing the influence and power the Taliban had in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan in the days leading up to the attack.
In April 2023, the Taliban killed an ISIS-K figure described as the mastermind of the Abbey Gate attack, with no U.S. involvement, Biden administration officials said at the time.
The Biden administration was widely criticized for its handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
