US gives ISIS-K aide 20 years over role in Kabul airport bombing

US courts sentenced Mohammad Sharifullah to 20 years for aiding ISIS-K in the Kabul airport attack case. The ruling closes the case against him without holding him directly responsible for the deaths at Abbey Gate.

In Short

• Jurors convicted Sharifullah of material support but split on bombing deaths
• Judge Anthony Trenga called him a dedicated terrorist lacking any remorse
• Parents of slain troops delivered emotional statements directly before sentencing

An Islamic State group member has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US for aiding ISIS-K, the affiliate that claimed the suicide bombing at Kabul airport during the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The attack killed 13 US service members and about 160 Afghans.

A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to ISIS-K. However, jurors could not agree on whether he bore responsibility for the August 26, 2021, bombing at Abbey Gate, an entry point at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

US prosecutors said Sharifullah's role in the attack was to scout a route to the airport for the bomber, who detonated an improvised explosive device as US troops were conducting an evacuation operation. He received the maximum sentence for his one-count conviction in an international terrorism case that President Donald Trump had highlighted last year in a speech to a joint session of Congress.

Sharifullah did not testify during the trial and declined to address the court before US District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the sentence. The judge described him as a "dedicated terrorist" who had shown no remorse for the "unfathomable" grief and suffering that he had caused.

During the hearing, Trenga heard victim impact statements from several parents of US service members killed in the attack. Standing only a few feet from Sharifullah, they spoke about their children and the impact of the bombing on their families. Mark Schmitz of Missouri asked Sharifullah to turn and look at him as he spoke about his 20-year-old son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl Jared Schmitz. "They may have taken his life, but they'll never take his legacy," Schmitz said. "A bomb killed my son. It did not kill what he stood for."

Sharifullah had asked for a 17-year prison term, while prosecutors sought 20 years. His lawyers argued that he was never an ISIS-K leader and had not been convicted of any conduct linked to the airport bombing. "He was brought here because the government believed he participated in the Abbey Gate attack, a theory which it was unable to prove at trial," defence attorneys wrote.

Prosecutors, in their sentencing memo, said that "from his teenage years, when he pledged an oath of allegiance to ISIS-K, Sharifullah's carnage was driven by hate. Hate towards Americans". They also said Sharifullah had told a journalist that he wanted to "catch and kill the crusaders" from the United States for invading his country after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Prosecutors further alleged that he was involved in dozens of other attacks, including the March 2024 assault on a Moscow concert hall that killed roughly 140 people.

The defence said prosecutors had failed to produce any evidence linking Sharifullah to the Kabul bombing apart from his own statements during hours of FBI questioning. His lawyers said he may have told FBI agents what he thought they wanted to hear because he feared being tortured while in Pakistani custody before being brought to the US.

Jurors convicted Sharifullah of providing material support to ISIS-K but were deadlocked on whether any deaths at the airport "resulted from" that conspiracy. He could have faced a possible life sentence if the jury had unanimously answered that question in the affirmative. A review by US Central Command found that the Abbey Gate bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State member who had been released from an Afghan prison by the Taliban. According to an FBI affidavit, Sharifullah recognised the alleged bomber as an operative he had known while in prison. The sentence closes the US case against Sharifullah, though the jury did not hold him directly responsible for the Kabul airport deaths.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends