Afghan man convicted in ISIS-K support plot tied to Abbey Gate bombing

A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, found Mohammad Sharifullah guilty of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to ISIS-K, but deadlocked on whether the Afghan national was directly responsible for the Kabul airport bombing that became one of the most searing episodes of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The split verdict leaves in place one of the Justice Department’s most significant terrorism convictions tied to Abbey Gate while stopping short of a finding that Sharifullah helped carry out the attack itself. Prosecutors said the case was linked to the August 26, 2021 suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, where 13 U.S. service members and about 160 Afghan civilians were killed, according to the Justice Department. Other official and news accounts have put the civilian toll at roughly 170 or more.

The support-conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Jurors concluded that Sharifullah took part in a nine-year ISIS-K support network, but they could not reach agreement on the separate count alleging he was responsible for the bombing at Abbey Gate. That divide matters because it preserves a legal distinction between helping a terrorist group in the abstract and proving a defendant’s direct role in a specific mass-casualty attack.

According to the Justice Department, Sharifullah admitted in an FBI interview on March 2, 2025, after waiving his Miranda rights, that he helped prepare for the Abbey Gate attack by scouting a route near the airport for an attacker. Officials said he was later arrested and extradited to the United States after President Donald Trump publicly highlighted the case in a March 4, 2025 address to a joint session of Congress.

The Pentagon said the attacker detonated a body-worn explosive device at about 5:36 p.m. near Abbey Gate, one of the airport’s main entry points, where crowds had packed into a chaotic and densely monitored evacuation site. A 2022 military investigation and a later supplemental review reaffirmed those basic findings and identified the attacker as Abdul Rahman al-Logari. Those reviews underscored how the bombing was executed and why the death toll was so high, while the jury’s deadlock showed how difficult it can be to prove individual responsibility years later, across a battlefield, through witnesses, intelligence and confessions filtered through time.

For victims and their families, the verdict offers accountability for ISIS-K support but not yet a final answer on who orchestrated the attack. For prosecutors, it is a reminder that terrorism cases tied to overseas attacks often hinge on proving not just association with a group, but the exact link between a defendant and the killing itself.