Kabul Airport bombing suspect not a top-level planner of deadly attack: FBI

Kabul Airport bombing suspect, who was arrested in Pakistan last week and extradited to the United States, was not a top-level planner of the deadly attack in August 2021, the FBI has said. 

However, Mohammad Sharifullah will remain in custody on charges of providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, US magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick stated in a federal court on Monday. 

During an address to Congress last week, US President Donald Trump described Sharifullah as “the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul amid the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

However, FBI Special Agent Seth Parker agreed with Sharifullah’s public defender on Monday that the alleged terrorist was not one of the top-level planners of the bombing, according to Fox News.

Parker alleged that Sharifullah was tasked by ISIS-K (Daesh) higher-ups with conducting reconnaissance ahead of the attack, including surveilling the road leading to Abbey Gate for the presence of roadblocks and law enforcement.

The hearing, the second for Sharifullah since he was brought on US soil last week, also revealed that the alleged ISIS-K member has claimed he was not present during the bombing and was unaware of the specifics of the target.

Parker, however, testified that Sharifullah was indeed an ISIS-K member with experience in helping carry out suicide bombings.

The Justice Department said last week that Sharifullah admitted to FBI agents during interviews that he conducted surveillance and later transported a suicide bomber near the Canadian embassy in Kabul ahead of the June 2016 attack.

Sharifullah also confessed to sharing instructions on how to use AK-style rifles and other weapons with two of the four gunmen responsible for the March 2024 ISIS-K attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which killed approximately 130 people.

Parker testified that Sharifullah was living near Quetta, Pakistan, where he was raising livestock, including chickens, when he was apprehended.

If convicted, Sharifullah faces a maximum penalty of life in prison for his role in the Kabul Airport attack