Afghan national sentenced to 20 years for aiding ISIS-K terror plots

An Afghan national was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a nearly decade-long conspiracy to support ISIS-K, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, the Justice Department said.

Mohammad Sharifullah was sentenced for participating in a conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the designated foreign terrorist organization. His activities included conducting surveillance, transporting suicide bombers and armaments, relaying communications and recording explosions for ISIS-K propaganda, according to court records and evidence presented at trial.

“Sharifullah spent nearly a decade at the heart of a horrific campaign of terror, providing critical support for attacks against civilians around the world and, ultimately, contributed to the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and dozens of others at Abbey Gate,” said John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security.

Prosecutors said ISIS-K leaders directed Sharifullah to scout a road to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul before the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at the airport’s Abbey Gate. At about 2 p.m., he reported that the route was clear of Taliban checkpoints. Approximately three and a half hours later, ISIS-K operative Abdul Rahman al-Logari — whom Sharifullah knew from their time together in an Afghan prison — detonated a body-worn suicide bomb at the gate, killing 13 U.S. service members and approximately 160 civilians during a noncombatant evacuation operation.

Sharifullah’s involvement in ISIS-K attacks extended back to 2016, when he conducted surveillance and transported a suicide bomber before an attack targeting Nepali security guards protecting the Canadian Embassy in Kabul. He was also involved in the March 2024 attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, providing the attackers with instructions on using AK-style rifles and other weapons and communicating with them during the assault. The gunmen killed more than 100 civilians.

In total, Sharifullah participated in more than a dozen ISIS-K attacks between 2016 and his apprehension in 2025, according to the Justice Department. His activities included conducting surveillance, transporting suicide bombers, transporting and cleaning armaments, relaying messages among ISIS-K personnel and recording explosions for propaganda purposes.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia said the sentence provides “a measure of justice” to the victims’ families. FBI Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Jarod Brown credited the FBI’s domestic and international partners with helping bring Sharifullah to the United States to face prosecution.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. Gibbs, Avi Panth and Reed Sawyers, along with Trial Attorney Ryan D. White of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, prosecuted it. The case was handled in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia under case No. 1:25-cr-143.