The FBI has arrested an Afghan citizen who was charged with playing a role in a fatal 2021 attack on U.S. service members as they conducted turbulent evacuations of civilians at major Afghan airports, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The man, Mohammad Sharihura, has been accused of helping the suicide bomber approach Hamid Karzai International Airport that August, undetected. The horrifying attack killed 13 US military service members and about 160 civilians.
Sharihula returned to the US early Wednesday and was charged with violating terrorist laws. That day he appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia that day, with a preliminary hearing set for March 10th. If convicted, he faces the potential for living in prison.
Officials said the US provided intelligence news to Pakistan, which led to the capture of Sharihura. Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif said Sharihula had been arrested by Pakistani security forces in the Afghanistan and border area.
In an interview Sunday with FBI agents in the Washington Field office, Sharihula confirmed that he is a member of Islamic State Holasan or the US-designated terrorist group ISIS-K.
The attack took place at what was known as the gates of the monastery. This is the entrance to the airport for thousands of civilians hoping to escape from Afghanistan when the Taliban holds the country. The bloody attack became a symbol of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in the first few months of the Biden administration.
The military was warned of the possibility of a terrorist attack at the airport that has fostered fierce criticism of the Biden administration and Permel's withdrawal.
In a statement, Eric S. Siebert, a US lawyer for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: “The accusations released today deliver an unmistakable message. Our commitment to promoting, promoting and holding us accountable to do so and implementing our fearful acts towards us will never waver.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the Central Intelligence Agency provided support in Sharifullah's case.
Former and current officials said it is very rare to refer to the CIA in these types of work. Typically, the CIA's involvement in law enforcement operations is not mentioned due to the sensitive nature of complications with secret agents testifying in federal courts.
When FBI agents interviewed Sharihura, he said he had scouted the attacker's route to Kabul airport. He also admitted to knowing the ISIS-K operatives who blew up himself.
Sharifler told agents he was in an Afghan prison from around 2019 to around 2019, two weeks before the attack. After his release, ISIS-K operatives contacted him about the pending operations and provided Mr Sharihula with a mobile phone bike and money. Sharifullah was told to use social media platforms during the attack to communicate other operatives to the group.
The FBI said it acknowledged that Sharifullah helped carry out other deadly attacks on ISIS-K's behalf. He monitored the bombers in a 2016 suicide attack on the Canadian Embassy in Kabul while they were housed and transported. (A report by the New York Times found that 15 security guards had been killed.)
Sharihura also claimed knowledge of the March 2024 attack on a music venue near Moscow that killed around 130 people. Russian authorities charged four gunmen in the attack, and Sharihula admitted to sharing instructions with at least two gunmen on how to use assault rifles and other weapons, the FBI said.
