Latest news with #MohammadSharifullah
South China Morning Post
16-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
How Pakistan took the fight to Isis-K – and won Trump's praise
The call came in January. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, just days into his tenure, reached out to Pakistan 's intelligence chief with a plea: help us bring those behind Kabul's Abbey Gate bombing – an attack that killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers – to justice. Advertisement What followed was a sweeping seven-month operation that spanned intelligence networks across 21 nations, culminating in the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah and 38 others. It was a victory that has thrust Pakistan back into the global spotlight as an integral player in the fight against Islamic State Khorasan , or Isis-K. Russia , Led by Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – whose director general Lieutenant General Asim Malik met Ratcliffe on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany to hatch the plan – the operation dismantled a key Isis-K 'external operations cell' responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in recent years, with its most dangerous operatives subsequently deported to countries including the United States Turkey and Iran The arrest of Sharifullah, an Afghan national who confessed to orchestrating the Abbey Gate suicide bombing during the chaotic US withdrawal in August 2021 , marked a diplomatic victory for Islamabad and Washington. US Marines are seen at Abbey Gate outside Kabul airport after a suicide bomber had detonated explosives in August 2021. Photo: US Department of Defence via AP It prompted rare praise from US President Donald Trump , who extended thanks on March 4 to Pakistan's government 'for helping arrest this monster' during his first speech to Congress since retaking the presidency.
Arab News
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Accused Daesh militant handed over to US by Pakistan appears in court over Kabul airport attack
ALEXANDRIA, United States: A Daesh operative who allegedly helped carry out the 2021 suicide bombing outside Kabul airport during the chaotic US military withdrawal from Afghanistan appeared in a Virginia court Wednesday. Mohammad Sharifullah has confessed to scouting out the route to the airport, where the suicide bomber later detonated his device among packed crowds trying to flee days after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the Justice Department said. The blast at the Abbey Gate killed at least 170 Afghans as well as 13 US troops who were securing the airport's perimeter. Sharifullah appeared in a court in Alexandria, near the US capital Washington, wearing light blue prison garb and a black face mask. He was officially appointed a public defender and provided with an interpreter. He did not enter a plea. His next appearance will be in the same courthouse on Monday, and he will stay in custody until then, the judge said. Sharifullah — who the US says also goes by the name Jafar and is a member of Daesh's Khorasan branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan — was detained by Pakistani authorities and brought to the United States. President Donald Trump triumphantly announced his arrest Tuesday in an address to Congress, calling him 'the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity.' Daesh militants gave Sharifullah a cellphone and a SIM card and told him to check the route to the airport, according to the Justice Department's affidavit in the case. When he gave it the all-clear, they told him to leave the area, it said. 'Later that same day, Sharifullah learned of the attack at HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport] described above and recognized the alleged bomber as an Daesh-K operative he had known while incarcerated,' the affidavit said, using an alternative acronym for the group. Sharifullah is charged with 'providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.' Trump thanked Islamabad 'for helping arrest this monster.' 'This evil Daesh-K terrorist orchestrated the brutal murder of 13 heroic Marines,' US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. Sharifullah also admitted to involvement in several other attacks, the Justice Department said, including the March 2024 Moscow Crocus City Hall attack, in which he said 'he had shared instructions on how to use AK-style rifles and other weapons to would-be attackers' by video. The United States withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, ending a chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans who had rushed to Kabul's airport in the hope of boarding a flight out of the country. Images of crowds storming the airport, climbing onto aircraft as they took off — and some clinging to a departing US military cargo plane as it rolled down the runway — aired on news bulletins around the world. In 2023, the White House announced that a Daesh official involved in plotting the airport attack had been killed in an operation by Afghanistan's new Taliban government. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for acknowledging his country's role in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan, and promised to 'continue to partner closely with the United States' in a post on X. Pakistan's strategic importance has waned since the US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has seen violence rebound in the border regions. Tensions between the neighboring countries have soared, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil who launch attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban government denies the charges and in a statement said Sharifullah's arrest 'is proof' that Daesh hideouts are on Pakistani soil. Daesh, which has claimed several recent attacks in Afghanistan, has staged a growing number of bloody international assaults, including killing more than 90 people in an Iranian bombing last year. Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Center, said on X that Pakistan was trying to 'leverage US concerns about terror in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership.'
Express Tribune
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
US military 'grateful to Pakistan' for Sharifullah's arrest
Listen to article The United States Central Command (US Centcom) has expressed gratitude to Pakistan for its role in capturing the main suspect behind the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. In a post on its official Urdu-language account on X, US Centcom acknowledged Pakistan's cooperation in arresting Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, an alleged Daesh-Khorasan (ISIS-K) operative. 'We are grateful to Pakistan for its cooperation in the arrest of Sharifullah, the main suspect in the attack on the Abbey Gate of Kabul Airport in Afghanistan, and for its cooperation with the United States in bringing the suspect to justice,' the statement read. The August 2021 bombing at Kabul Airport, which occurred amid the chaotic US-led withdrawal from Afghanistan, killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members. Sharifullah was apprehended in Pakistan following intelligence provided by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to a news agency report. He has confessed to scouting the attack route, officials said. US President Donald Trump announced the arrest during his address to a joint session of Congress, calling Sharifullah a 'monster' and thanking Pakistan for its assistance. 'This is a very huge day for the affected families,' Trump said. Sharifullah has since been extradited to the United States and produced before a court in Virginia. According to the US Justice Department, he has admitted involvement in multiple attacks, including the March 2024 attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall. He allegedly provided video instructions on using AK-style rifles and other weapons to would-be attackers. US Centcom highlighted the collaboration between Islamabad and Washington, saying both nations share a 'common interest in the war on terrorism.'
Telegraph
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
How the Kabul airport blast mastermind was captured and what it means for US-Pakistan relations
The suspected mastermind of the deadly bombing of Kabul airport during the chaotic US withdrawal was captured after painstaking planning and coordination between America and Pakistan, The Telegraph can reveal. Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as 'Jafar', has now been extradited to the US and faces charges in Virginia of providing material support to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), the designated terrorist group responsible for the attack which killed 13 US military personnel and at least 170 Afghan civilians. Sharifullah was arrested in a counter-terrorism operation in Pakistan's Balochistan province near the Afghanistan border, a Pakistan ministry of defence official told The Telegraph. 'The Pakistan army, acting independently, captured Sharifullah along with three other high-profile ISIS-K operatives in a carefully planned raid,' the official said. The US intelligence services had been tracking Sharifullah but required Pakistan's assistance to secure his arrest. 'When the Americans located him, they engaged with us. Once we confirmed his identity, we made it clear that this would be a Pakistan-led operation,' he said. 'We sent our elite unit of special forces to storm his hideout near the Afghanistan border and nabbed him in a swift raid,' he said. On March 2, Sharifullah was handed over to US officials and flown to Washington DC, via Morocco on a department of justice aircraft, he said. His arrest marks a significant moment in counter-terrorism cooperation between Washington and Islamabad, as the two nations work to repair strained relations following America's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The American intelligence agencies had been hunting the mastermind since the Kabul Airport attack. As soon as John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, took charge, he established contact with Pakistan's ISI chief, Lt Gen Asim Malik. Later they met again during the Munich Security Conference last month. During the close door meetings, the US urged Pakistan to play a key role in neutralising the growing ISIS-K threat in the region with global security consequences. Donald Trump, who blames Joe Biden for the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, announced Sharifullah's arrest in his address to Congress on Tuesday. 'He is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,' Mr Trump said. We will NEVER forget the 13 heroes who lost their lives at Abbey Gate. God bless the leadership of @Kash_Patel, @PamBondi, @TulsiGabbard, & @JohnRatcliffe in bringing this scum home to face justice. 🇺🇸 — Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 5, 2025 On Monday, Sharifullah appeared in court wearing a blue jail jumpsuit. He stood around 5ft tall, wore a surgical face mask, and spoke through an interpreter in the packed courtroom. A judge ordered him to remain in custody until a formal detention hearing scheduled for Monday. US authorities allege that Sharifullah helped ISIS-K operatives scout routes around Kabul's Abbey Gate, ensuring the suicide bomber could reach the target undetected. He also allegedly provided intelligence to the terrorist group to facilitate the attack. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Sharifullah 'orchestrated' the bombing, vowing that under Mr Trump's leadership, the US would ensure that terrorists 'have no safe haven'. Kash Patel, the FBI Director, heralded his capture and extradition saying: 'The FBI will never forget the loss of these American heroes, we will continue to hunt down those who viciously murdered our warriors, we will find all responsible and bring them to justice.' According to the DOJ, during FBI interrogations, Sharifullah admitted to knowing Abdul Rahman al-Logari, the ISIS-K militant who carried out the suicide bombing. He also confessed to involvement in other attacks, including a 2016 bombing near the Canadian embassy in Kabul and last year's massacre at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which killed 130 people. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Sharifullah's militant career began with the dreaded Haqqani Network (HQN), a group closely linked to al-Qaeda. In 2015, he defected to ISIS-K and formed Kabul Katiba, an elite urban warfare unit, which has a direct link to the group's core leadership. Former Afghan intelligence officials told The Telegraph that he operated alongside senior jihadist figures of Islamic State (IS) including Sanaullah Ghafari, the current emir of ISIS-K. He introduced the small-cell structure to improve operational secrecy, enabling independent attacks with minimal risk of exposure when the ISIS-K lost territorial control in eastern Afghanistan. He was first arrested in 2019 by Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), which identified him as one of ISIS-K's most dangerous operatives. He was held in Bagram prison until Aug 15, 2021, when the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan led to mass prison breaks, allowing him to escape and re-join ISIS-K. Sharifullah's capture comes at a time of heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Clashes along the Torkham-Jalalabad border crossing have escalated, displacing dozens of families and forcing a shutdown since Feb 21. Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban remain strained, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militants who launch cross-border attacks — an allegation the Taliban denies. Pakistan has been pushing for renewed US counter-terrorism support, including pressuring the Taliban to return abandoned American military equipment that Islamabad claims is being used by insurgents in cross-border attacks. In recent weeks, Mr Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to recover the weaponry left behind. 'We're talking here about a concrete case of cooperation on a sensitive issue, in this case intelligence-sharing on a shared threat. This is a rare success story for a relationship that's lacked an anchor since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,' said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre in Washington DC. 'While this isn't necessarily the opening salvo of a new counter-terrorism alliance, it does signal that the new administration — despite featuring a large number of harsh Pakistan critics, including the president himself — thinks enough of Pakistan as a partner that it's willing to reach out on a matter as fraught and complex as counter-terrorism,' Mr Kugelman said. On March 4, Mike Waltz, the US national security advisor, called Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's foreign minister, thanking his country for its efforts in countering terrorism. Dar reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to 'continue its cooperation with the US in the field of counter-terrorism'. On Tuesday, 18 people, including children, were killed and dozens more wounded after a group of gunmen and suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on a Pakistani army base at Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On Thursday, General Asim Munir, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, said that terrorist groups continued to operate from Afghan soil against Pakistan. The use of foreign weapons and equipment in recent terrorist attacks was clear evidence that Afghanistan remained a haven for such elements, General Munir said. The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team warned in February that Afghanistan remains the primary hub for ISIS-K operations. The group's activities in Pakistan have also surged, with the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies reporting more than 1,600 fatalities from militants in 2024 — the deadliest year in a decade.
Russia Today
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
US arrests suspect linked to 2024 Moscow terrorist attack
The US authorities have arrested a suspect linked to several high-profile terrorist attacks, including the deadly assault on Moscow's Crocus City Hall concert venue in March 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has said. Identified as Mohammad Sharifullah, the Afghan national is a member of an offshoot of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) known as ISIS-K, the DOJ stated. The organization is primarily active in Afghanistan. According to CNN, the man was transported to the US from Pakistan earlier this week. The US authorities have charged Sharifullah with 'providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death,' according to the DOJ statement. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Sharifullah admitted during FBI questioning that he provided the Crocus City Hall attackers with instructions on how to use their weapons, the US authorities said. He also specifically named two gunmen as people he had previously instructed. The March 2024 attack, which involved four gunmen, was one of the biggest terrorist attacks in recent Russian history. The assailants killed 145 people and injured over 500 others. All of the gunmen were arrested by Russian law enforcement as they sought to flee the country through the border with Ukraine. Around three dozen suspects were arrested in connection to the case. According to the DOJ, Sharifullah was also allegedly instrumental in the terrorist attack against US forces guarding the Kabul airport during America's hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The suicide bombing attack claimed the lives of 13 American servicemen and around 160 civilians. Sharifullah admitted to the FBI to scouting the route for the suicide bomber, ensuring that he would not be detected. He is also suspected of providing surveillance for another terrorist suicide bomber who detonated himself outside of the Canadian Embassy in Kabul in 2016, killing over ten guards. According to CNN, the suspect was arrested in Pakistan based on CIA intelligence. US President Donald Trump thanked Islamabad for 'helping arrest this monster.' Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed the arrest and thanked Washington for acknowledging Pakistan's role in the operation.
