Pakistan captured man tied to Kabul airport attack, says Trump

President Donald Trump announced the capture of a top leader of the Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan and Pakistan who helped plan the 2021 attack on the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members and dozens of other people.

“We have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Trump said during his address to Congress on Tuesday.

Current and former officials said the United States had provided intelligence to Pakistan that led to its capture of the leader, Mohammad Sharifullah, who helped plot the attack on the Abbey Gate entrance to the Kabul airport.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan said Sharifullah, an Afghan national, had been arrested by Pakistani security forces in the border region with Afghanistan. Axios first reported details of Sharifullah’s arrest.

The Abbey Gate attack became a symbol of the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in the opening months of the Biden administration. The military had been warned about the possibility of terror attacks at the airport, where thousands of Afghans were converging, hoping to flee as the Taliban took hold of the country.

Although he did not name President Joe Biden during his remarks on the attack, Trump lamented the withdrawal from Afghanistan as “disastrous and incompetent.” He called the Abbey Gate attack “perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.”

Since taking office, Trump’s CIA director, John Ratcliffe, has spoken with Pakistan’s intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Asim Malik, about Sharifullah, current and former officials said. Sharifullah is a leader of the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate.

Cliff Sims, an informal adviser to Ratcliffe, wrote in a social media post that one of Trump’s first orders to the agency was to prioritize the hunt for those responsible for the Abbey Gate attack.

“On his second day in office, Ratcliffe raised the issue during his first call with the Pakistani spy chief and reiterated it during their meeting at the Munich security conference,” Sims wrote. “This cooperation led to a huge counterterrorism win for the United States and progress toward justice for the families of the American heroes we lost that day.”

In another social media post, Kash Patel, the FBI director, said Sharifullah had been extradited to the United States. “One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families,” Patel wrote.

A U.S. official said that the CIA and the FBI were notified 10 days ago that Pakistan had captured Sharifullah and that he was expected to arrive in the United States on Wednesday.