ISIS-K Aide Gets 20 Years for Role in Kabul Airport Bombing

Mohammad Sharifullah was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for providing material support to ISIS-K after a Virginia jury convicted him in April. The case concerns the August 26, 2021 Abbey Gate suicide bombing at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and about 150 to 170 Afghans during the U.S. withdrawal. Jurors deadlocked on whether deaths resulted from the conspiracy, leaving him unconvicted of causing those deaths. Judge Anthony Trenga called him a "dedicated terrorist" who showed no remorse for "unfathomable" grief. Sharifullah declined to address the court. Prosecutors said he scouted a route for the bomber, identified by U.S. Central Command as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, and alleged hate-driven attacks including the 2024 Moscow concert hall assault that killed about 140. They cited his aim to "catch and kill the crusaders" and sought 20 years. Defense attorneys said only his FBI statements, given amid fear of torture in Pakistani custody, tied him to Abbey Gate—a theory unproven at trial—and asked for 17 years. Mark Schmitz, father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20, stood near Sharifullah and said: "They may have taken his life, but they'll never take his legacy. A bomb killed my son. It did not kill what he stood for."