Suspect Kabul Airport Bombing Planner During Afghanistan Pullout Caught, Heading to US for Charges: Trump- wna24

Washington: During the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a suspected senior planner of the Kabul airport suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members has been taken into custody and is being brought to the United States to face charges, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night.

Senior Pakistani intelligence officers confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect, involved in the Kabul airport bombing, was arrested in Balochistan near the Afghanistan border after multiple failed operations.

In a joint address to Congress , Trump said, he was “pleased to announce that we have just arrested the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”

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The man identified by the White House as Muhammed Sharifullah and described him as having “orchestrated the Abbey Gate attack.”

 FBI Director Kash Patel, who attended Trump’s address, posted on the social media platform X that the arrest was “one step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families.”

A senior US official said Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, was arrested late last month on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan by Pakistani officials. US law enforcement, including the FBI, interrogated him over the weekend.

During the interrogation, the official said the suspect confessed to his role in the attack — dubbed Abbey Gate attack after the airport gate where it happened — and also a March 2024 attack in Moscow that was carried out by the Islamic State group’s affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province or ISIS-K, and several attacks inside Iran.

In the horrific August 2021 attack, two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.

The Abbey Gate bombing in the final days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 US service members and 170 Afghans, injuring many others. It sparked intense congressional criticism and eroded public trust in Biden’s administration.

Trump had repeatedly condemned Biden’s role in the Afghanistan withdrawal on the campaign trail and blamed Biden for the Abbey Gate attack. The official said Sharifullah’s arrest came after fresh US intelligence community coordination, increased intelligence sharing and pressure on regional partners to bring those responsible for the attack to account since Trump’s swearing-in.