Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national accused in connection with the 2021 attack on Kabul International Airport, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States.
According to reports, a US federal jury found Sharifullah guilty in April of providing material support to ISIS-Khorasan, an affiliate of the Islamic State. He was sentenced on Wednesday following the conviction.
During an FBI interview, Sharifullah reportedly admitted that he had assisted ISIS-K over a period of approximately 10 years and helped the group plan dozens of attacks.
The August 2021 attack at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 US service members and approximately 160 Afghan civilians. The bombing occurred as thousands of people gathered at the airport during the chaotic evacuation following the Taliban’s return to power.
However, jurors were unable to reach a verdict on whether Sharifullah’s support directly contributed to the deaths resulting from the Kabul airport attack. His conviction and sentence therefore relate to providing material support to ISIS-K, while the jury did not establish a direct link between his support and the specific deaths in the 2021 bombing.
The case has drawn continued attention because of the attack’s significant impact on both Afghan civilians and US personnel during the final days of the US military presence in Afghanistan.