ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An alleged Islamic State militant falsely confessed to helping plan a deadly suicide bombing at a Kabul airport during the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, a defense lawyer told jurors on Tuesday at the close of the man's trial in Virginia.
Jurors began deliberating after hearing attorneys' closing arguments in the federal trial of Mohammad Sharifullah, whose capture was heralded by President Donald
Trump as he addressed a joint session of Congress last year. Approximately 160 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed in the attack on Aug. 26, 2021, when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near an airport entry point known as Abbey Gate.
Defense attorney Lauren Rosen argued that prosecutors failed to present any evidence tying Sharifullah to the bombing besides his own words to FBI agents during hours of interrogation. She said her client lied about scouting a route for the suicide bomber to the airport, where U.S. troops were conducting an evacuation operation after the longest war in American history.
Rosen said Sharifullah told FBI agents what he thought they wanted to hear, possibly because he was afraid of being tortured in Pakistani custody before he was brought to the U.S.
“The problem was, he didn't know much about what actually happened that day,” Rosen told jurors. “The government has told you nothing about how this attack actually happened.”
Justice Department prosecutor Ryan White said Sharifullah played a crucial role in planning the Abbey Gate bombing and was involved in several other attacks by an Islamic State regional branch known as ISIS-K, including its March 2024 attack at a Moscow concert hall that killed roughly 140 people.
“The defendant thought nothing of killing,” White said. “For him, it was just another day at the office.”
Sharifullah, who didn't testify at his weeklong trial, is charged with one count of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
White said Sharifullah told a journalist that he wanted to “catch and kill the crusaders” from the U.S. for invading his country after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“This case is not complicated,” White said. “The defendant told you everything you need to know.”
Rosen said U.S. authorities accepted ISIS propaganda at face value when the group took responsibility for the airport bombing. She suggested that militants from a Taliban offshoot were manning Abbey Gate and could have been involved in the attack.
“You can't base your verdict on mere conjecture and speculation,” Rosen said. “That's what the prosecution is asking you to do.”
A review by U.S. Central Command found that the Abbey Gate bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been released from an Afghan prison by the Taliban. Sharifullah recognized the alleged bomber as an operative he had known while incarcerated, according to an FBI affidavit.
A former Marine testified to Congress that he and others had spotted two possible suspects behaving suspiciously on the morning of the bombing but didn’t get permission to act. However, the Central Command review concluded that the snipers hadn’t seen the actual bomber and that the attack was not preventable.
A prosecutor assigned to the Abbey Gate case was fired last year after a right-wing commentator publicly criticized him over his work during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Michael Ben’Ary’s ouster was part of a broader purge of Justice Department veterans deemed to be insufficiently loyal to Trump, a Republican.
During his most recent presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly condemned Biden for his role in the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and blamed him for the Abbey Gate attack.
