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A federal jury in Virginia convicted Mohammad Sharifullah of aiding an Islamic State regional branch known as ISIS-K in connection with the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Kabul airport known as Abbey Gate, but it did not reach agreement on a key sentencing-related element tying the alleged conspiracy to the attack’s resulting deaths. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga did not immediately set a date for Sharifullah’s sentencing following the Wednesday verdict, according to the trial’s reporting.
Prosecutors pursued a one-count international terrorism case that relied on the jury to decide whether deaths at the airport “resulted from” the conspiracy. Jurors ultimately convicted Sharifullah of providing material support to ISIS-K, but they deadlocked on whether the element that could have increased the potential sentence applied to the specific Abbey Gate attack.
The jury deliberated about eight hours over two days. In a note to the judge, jurors indicated they reached unanimous agreement on the conspiracy conviction but could not agree on the “resulted from” element. The judge rejected a prosecutor’s request to grant jurors more time to deliberate.
The attack in question occurred during a U.S. military evacuation operation, when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near Abbey Gate, an entry point at Kabul airport. The reporting says approximately 160 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed in the attack.
Prosecutors said Sharifullah’s role extended beyond generalized ISIS-K support. Department of Justice prosecutor Ryan White argued in closing that Sharifullah played a crucial role in planning the Abbey Gate bombing and was involved in several other ISIS-K attacks, including the group’s March 2024 attack at a Moscow concert hall that killed roughly 140 people. White told jurors that “The defendant thought nothing of killing,” and that “For him, it was just another day at the office.”
Defense attorney Lauren Rosen argued that the government failed to prove Sharifullah’s connection to how the specific Abbey Gate bombing unfolded. Rosen told jurors that prosecutors did not present evidence tying him to the bombing besides what she said were his own words during hours of FBI questioning, and that Sharifullah told FBI agents what he believed they wanted to hear. Rosen also pointed to her view that Sharifullah did not know “much about what actually happened that day,” telling jurors during closing arguments: “The government has told you nothing about how this attack actually happened.”
A U.S. Central Command review identified the Abbey Gate bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State group militant who had been released from an Afghan prison by the Taliban. The reporting said an FBI affidavit stated Sharifullah recognized al-Logari as an operative he had known while incarcerated.
Testimony also addressed whether officials could have prevented the attack. The reporting says a former Marine testified to Congress that he and others spotted two possible suspects behaving suspiciously on the morning of the bombing but did not get permission to act. Central Command concluded that the snipers had not seen the actual bomber and that the attack was not preventable.
The case unfolded as U.S. officials and politicians have continued to debate responsibility for the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and its aftermath. The reporting says President Donald Trump heralded the terrorism case last year and that Trump during his campaign repeatedly condemned President Joe Biden for his role in the chaotic withdrawal and blamed Biden for the Abbey Gate attack. It also said Biden’s White House was operating under a withdrawal commitment and timeline negotiated by the first Trump administration with the Taliban in 2020, and a 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded that decisions by both Trump and Biden were key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban takeover.
In closing, White also referenced Sharifullah’s statements to a journalist, saying Sharifullah wanted to “catch and kill the crusaders” from the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Rosen, however, argued that U.S. authorities accepted ISIS propaganda at face value when the group took responsibility for the airport bombing, and she suggested militants from a Taliban offshoot could have been involved in the attack.
Sharifullah did not testify during his weeklong trial, and the reporting said he did not appear to have a visible reaction to the verdict. The conviction carried a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for the jury’s one-count decision, though the potential for a life sentence depended on a unanimous finding on the “resulted from” element, which the jury did not reach.