Behind the scenes: Pakistan detained alleged plotter of Abbey Gate bombing based on CIA intel
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A sign displaying the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Abbey Gate attack outside Kabul's airport is shown during a September 2024 news conference in Washington, DC. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Pakistan recently acted on CIA intelligence and detained a senior ISIS commander who the U.S. claims plotted the deadly Abbey Gate bombing during the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the issue. President Trump revealed the arrest in his address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Why it matters: Mohammad Sharifullah, one of the leaders of an ISIS branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is believed to have devised and coordinated the attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 Afghan citizens, one official said.
The latest: CIA director John Ratcliffe said in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday that Sharifullah arrived in Washington, DC on Tuesday night and is now in U.S. custody.
- White House national security adviser Michael Waltz told Fox and Friends that Sharifullah confessed about his role in the Abbey Gate bombing.
Driving the news: "I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity," Trump said in his address on Tuesday. He also thanked the Pakistani government for helping to arrest Sharifullah, who he said was at the time being brought to the U.S.
One U.S. official with direct knowledge said Sharifullah, who is also known as "Jafar," was detained by the Pakistani Intelligence Service.
- An indictment against him is expected to be unsealed on Wednesday, the U.S. official said.
- A second U.S. official claimed Sharifullah is "the mastermind" behind the attack that took place outside Kabul's international airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and that he planned and oversaw the execution of the bombing.
- "Because of his role, he has been a high value target of the U.S. intelligence community for several years," the official said.
Flashback: In April 2023, the Taliban killed another senior ISIS-K leader who the U.S. intelligence community believes authorized the Abbey Gate attack. The Biden administration announced his death but didn't provide details about his identity.
Behind the scenes: After CIA director John Ratcliffe was confirmed by Congress in January, Trump instructed him to prioritize capturing the perpetrators of the Abbey Gate attack, the U.S. officials said.
- In his first days in office, Ratcliffe told CIA counterterrorism officials to make it a top priority for the agency.
- One U.S. official said the CIA director on his second day in office raised the issue during his first call with his Pakistani counterpart, Lt. Gen. Asim Malik. Ratcliffe reiterated this message during his meeting with the Pakistani spy chief on the sidelines of the Munich security conference in mid-February.
- A spokesperson for the Pakistani embassy in D.C. did not provide a comment prior to publication.
The CIA has been monitoring Sharifullah for some time but in recent days it received specific intelligence about his location. The CIA provided the information to the Pakistani intelligence agency, which sent an elite unit that captured him near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the officials said.
- Ten days ago, after the U.S. was notified of Sharifullah's capture, Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel held a call with the Pakistani intelligence chief from CIA headquarters in Langley.
- Since then the CIA, the Department of Justice and the FBI worked together on his extradition, with Ratcliffe, Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi personally involved, one of the U.S. officials said.
The big picture: The cooperation between the CIA and the Pakistani Intelligence Services over Sharifullah's capture happened after several years of strained relations between U.S. and Pakistani intelligence services.
- A U.S. official said these tensions negatively affected counterterrorism operations with the Pakistanis.
- Both sources said the U.S. sees Sharifullah's detainment as a signal that the Pakistanis want to reengage with the Trump administration on intelligence and counterterrorism.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from the Trump administration.
