On March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump announced the capture of Mohammad Sharifullah, a suspected planner of the August 26, 2021, Abbey Gate suicide bombing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. The attack, carried out by the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Sharifullah’s arrest, achieved within 45 days of Trump’s January 20, 2025, inauguration, underscores the swift action of his new national security team in delivering justice for one of the deadliest moments of the evacuation.
The Abbey Gate bombing remains a haunting symbol of the Afghanistan withdrawal’s turmoil. As U.S. forces managed a desperate airlift, ISIS-K operative Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated an explosive vest amid crowds at the airport’s entry, killing Marines, a Navy corpsman, and an Army staff sergeant—names revered by the Abbey Gate 13 Coalition of Gold Star families. For over three years, these families pressed for accountability, frustrated by the Biden administration’s failure to apprehend any perpetrators despite pledges to pursue justice.
Sharifullah’s capture in late February 2025 in Pakistan’s Balochistan province near the Afghan border was a triumph of coordination between Trump’s national security team—led by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Attorney General Pamela Bondi—and Pakistani intelligence. Acting on CIA tips, Pakistani forces nabbed Sharifullah, who was extradited to the U.S. on March 4. He appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 5, charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death—a crime carrying a potential life sentence. During a March 2 FBI interrogation, Sharifullah confessed to scouting the bomber’s route to Abbey Gate, ensuring it was free of checkpoints, and to roles in other ISIS-K attacks, including the March 2024 Moscow concert hall assault.
Trump touted the arrest in a joint address to Congress, stating, “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.” He credited Pakistan’s cooperation, a diplomatic win for his administration, and hailed the moment as closure for the 13 families he personally knows. Waltz described the families’ emotional response, noting Trump’s promise at Arlington to “get this guy” had been fulfilled within weeks.
Questions linger, however. Sharifullah claimed he was imprisoned until two weeks before the attack, a timeline some on X question, alongside his absence from earlier suspect lists. The Taliban, meanwhile, insisted they detained two other Sharifullahs for the bombing, muddying the narrative. Still, the operation reflects a stark contrast to the prior administration’s inaction, with Patel, Bondi, and Ratcliffe greeting Sharifullah’s plane at Dulles Airport—an image of resolve. As his detention hearing looms on March 10, this rapid success signals a reinvigorated U.S. counterterrorism stance under Trump’s leadership, offering solace to grieving families and a warning to ISIS-K.
