ISIS-K member sentenced to 20 years in prison in case tied to Kabul bombing
An Islamic State group member was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding the terrorist organization that took credit for a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 160 Afghans at a Kabul airport.
September 16, 2026 / 5:49 PM EDT / CBS/AP
A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to the affiliate, known as ISIS-K. But jurors could not agree whether he bore some responsibility for the airport bombing on Aug. 26, 2021.
U.S. troops were conducting an evacuation operation at the airport when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near an entry point known as Abbey Gate. Sharifullah's role in the attack was scouting a route to Hamid Karzai International Airport, prosecutors said.
Sharifullah, 28, received the maximum sentence for his one-count conviction in an international terrorism case that President Trump heralded last year during a speech to a joint session of Congress. Sharifullah was captured in early 2025 by Pakistani intelligence and the CIA near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, and was extradited to the United States.
Sharifullah did not testify at his trial and declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the sentence. The judge said the defendant was a "dedicated terrorist" who expressed no remorse for the "unfathomable" grief and suffering that he had caused.