On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the arrest of an Islamic State terrorist who allegedly orchestrated the 2021 suicide attack outside Kabul airport amid the chaotic US military exit.
Days after the Taliban took control of the capital, the bomber killed 170 Afghans and 13 US troops guarding the perimeter when he set up a device among crowded throngs attempting to escape Afghanistan.
In his first speech to Congress since taking office again for a second term, Trump said Tuesday that Pakistan had helped apprehend “the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity.”
“And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” he continued, referring to the “disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan” that his predecessor Joe Biden had failed to oversee.
Without providing any information about the suspect or the arrest process, he praised Pakistan “for helping arrest this monster.”
Tens of thousands of Afghans flocked to Kabul’s airport in the hopes of catching a flight out of the country, but the chaotic evacuation came to a stop on August 31, 2021, when the United States withdrew its final troops from Afghanistan.
News feeds from all over the world featured pictures of crowds swarming the airport, scaling aeroplanes, and even hanging on to a departing US military cargo plane as it rolled down the runway.
The suspect was identified by Pakistani intelligence as Jafar, whose real name is Mohammad Sharifullah, who is the head of the Islamic State branch in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to two unnamed US sources cited by the US news outlet Axios, Sharifullah is now being extradited from Pakistan to the US and is anticipated to arrive on Wednesday.
The White House declared in April 2023 that the new Taliban administration in Afghanistan had killed an Islamic State leader who was involved in planning the attack at the Abbey Gate of the airport.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, expressed gratitude to Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support” in Afghanistan’s counterterrorism efforts.
He said, “We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” on the social media platform X.
Since the US and NATO withdrew from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s strategic significance has diminished, but militancy has increased in the border areas.
The Taliban administration disputes Islamabad’s accusation that Kabul has not done enough to expel militants taking refuge on Afghan territory.
More than 90 people were killed in an Iranian blast last year, while more than 140 people were killed at a concert venue in Moscow by the Islamic State Khorasan, the regional branch of the Islamic State group.
On X, Michael Kugelman, director of The Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, claimed that Pakistan was attempting to “leverage US concerns about terror in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership.”
“Pakistan’s help catching the Abbey Gate attack plotter should be seen in this context,” he stated.
