Prosecutors said that in FBI interviews after waiving his Miranda rights, Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker.
Sharifullah specifically checked for law enforcement and American or Taliban checkpoints, and then communicated to other ISIS-K members that he believed the route was clear and that the attacker would not be detected, prosecutors said.
Sharifullah said he had been in prison until two weeks before the bombing, according to court papers. He told the FBI he was recruited after his release and was provided a motorcycle and a cellphone.
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia John Gibbs said once Sharifullah was in custody, he was chatty with authorities; participating in five FBI interviews — two on the ground in Pakistan, two during the flight from the Middle East to the U.S., and one in the United States.
“You will hear his words, and you will see a great deal of evidence of his guilt,” Gibbs said in his opening statement.
Federal Public Defender Geremy Kamens said bluntly that the U.S. had the wrong man, and Sharifullah’s comments were given under duress.
“This man, Mohammad Sharifullah, had nothing to do with it,” Kamens said. “The question in this case is not really about what happened. But about who is responsible.”
The government called witnesses set the stage for Sharifullah’s suspected involvement in not just the Abbey Gate bombing, but in other attacks.
Georgetown University professor and terrorism and counter-terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman detailed for jurors how ISIS operated, and how the Afghanistan withdrawal played out, calling the scene at Hamad Karzai International Airport ahead of the bombing “complete pandemonium.”
In cross-examination, Sharifullah’s attorney sought to place blame on the Taliban, discussing the influence and power the Taliban had in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan in the days leading up the attack.
In April 2023, the Taliban killed an ISIS-K figure described as the mastermind of the Abbey Gate attack, with no U.S. involvement, Biden administration officials said at the time.
The Biden administration was widely criticized for its handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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