Jurors in a Virginia federal court have begun deliberating the fate of Mohammad Sharifullah, an alleged Islamic State militant charged in connection with the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The attack on 26 August 2021 killed approximately 160 Afghans and 13 US service members.
Defence attorney Lauren Rosen argued that prosecutors had failed to produce any evidence linking Sharifullah to the bombing beyond his own statements to FBI agents, which she claimed were false confessions made under duress. Rosen suggested her client may have lied out of fear of torture while in Pakistani custody before being transferred to the US. “The problem was, he didn't know much about what actually happened that day,” she told jurors.
Prosecutor Ryan White countered that Sharifullah played a crucial role in planning the Abbey Gate attack and was involved in other ISIS-K operations, including the March 2024 Moscow concert hall massacre that killed around 140 people. White quoted Sharifullah as telling a journalist he wanted to “catch and kill the crusaders” from the US.
The defendant faces a single charge of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation resulting in death, which carries a maximum life sentence. He did not testify during the weeklong trial. A review by US Central Command identified the bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State operative released from an Afghan prison by the Taliban. Sharifullah reportedly recognised al-Logari as a fellow inmate.
