Afghan national goes on trial in Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 Americans

Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national known as Jafar, went on trial in Alexandria, Virginia, over a bombing at Kabul’s Abbey Gate that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 180 people during the chaos of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Prosecutors say Sharifullah played a key role in the August 26, 2021 attack by ISIS-K, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan Province. The Justice Department says he admitted in an FBI interview that he helped prepare for the assault, including scouting a route near Hamid Karzai International Airport for the attacker. The government has charged him with providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization resulting in death, a case that could bring a life sentence if he is convicted.

The bombing struck Abbey Gate, the main entry point for evacuation operations, where thousands of civilians had gathered hoping to flee Afghanistan. According to Justice Department records, ISIS-K member Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated a body-worn suicide bomb at about 5:36 p.m., killing 13 American troops and roughly 160 civilians. Other accounts have placed the Afghan civilian toll closer to 170.

Sharifullah was charged on March 2, 2025, then arrested and brought to the United States before appearing in federal court on March 5. U.S. officials said his capture involved the FBI, the CIA and Pakistani intelligence, and President Donald Trump announced the arrest in an address to Congress that same month, thanking Pakistan for its help.

The prosecution gives Washington a chance to press accountability for one of the most consequential tragedies of the withdrawal, but the case still turns on proof at trial. Jurors will have to decide whether Sharifullah knowingly aided ISIS-K, whether his conduct rose to the level of material support, and whether that support was tied to the deaths at Abbey Gate.

Sharifullah is also accused of involvement in a separate June 2016 suicide bombing near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul that killed 10 embassy guards and wounded others near the Canadian Embassy, adding another layer to the government’s case that he moved within ISIS-K’s violent network for years.