Trump lauds Pakistan for arresting alleged plotter of 2021 Kabul airport bombing

Celina Ali

Islamabad: US President Donald Trump Tuesday thanked Pakistan for helping the U.S. in the arrest of the “top terrorist” involved in the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport‘s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan that killed 13 American soldiers and at least 170 Afghan civilians.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Trump said to a loud and sustained applause during his address to the joint session of Congress.

“I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping us arrest this monster,” the president said.

“This was a very momentous day for those 13 families who I actually got to know very well, most of them whose children were murdered and the many people that were so badly, over 42 people, so badly injured on that fateful day in Afghanistan. What a horrible day,” he added.

Trump did not name who the suspect was, but CNN reported that Mohammad Sharifullah, allegedly involved in the planning of the suicide bombing during America’s August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, is being transported to the U.S. He is being charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support for terrorism, CNN said, quoting a source.

Since taking office, Trump’s C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, has spoken with Pakistan’s ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Asim Malik, about Sharifullah, The New York Times reported, quoting current and former officials. Sharifullah is head of the group known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K.

While the government of Pakistan has yet to comment on Trump’s claim, independent security analysts have reported that Pakistan’s security forces have arrested several key ISIS-K leaders in recent months, according to the Times. Among them was Sharifullah, whose arrest, according to those experts, was made to strengthen relations with the Trump administration.

Cliff Sims, an informal adviser to Ratcliffe, wrote in a social media post that one of Trump’s first orders to the agency was to prioritize the hunt for those responsible for the Abbey Gate attack.

“On his second day in office, Ratcliffe raised the issue during his first call with Pakistan’s ISI chief and reiterated it during their meeting at the Munich security conference,” Sims wrote. “This cooperation led to a huge counterterrorism win for the United States and progress toward justice for the families of the American heroes we lost that day.”

In another social media post, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said Sharifullah had been extradited to the United States. “One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families,” Mr. Patel wrote.

A U.S. official said that the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. were notified 10 days ago that Pakistan had captured Mr. Sharifullah and that he was expected to arrive in the United States on Wednesday, developments reported earlier by Axios

Attorney General Pam Bondi also on Tuesday night said that “one of the terrorist leaders responsible” for the Abbey Gate bombing will be taken into U.S. custody by the DOJ, FBI, and CIA, according to a post on X.

“We will continue to bring those who harm Americans to swift and decisive justice,” she added.

Sharifullah is accused of providing and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, according to an indictment unsealed late Tuesday, as reported by CNN.

He was allegedly recruited into ISIS-K in 2016 and has “admitted to supporting and conducting activities on behalf of ISIS-K in support of multiple lethal attacks,” according to the indictment.

In his address to Congress, Trump said that the American soldiers were killed during the withdrawal under the Biden administration that he called “disastrous and incompetent.” He even called it the “most embarrassing moment” in US history.

“America is once again standing strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism.,” the president said.