A man accused of helping plan the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 others is set to stand trial in Virginia in December.
The trial for Mohammad Sharifullah, the alleged planner from the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate who was extradited from Pakistan to the United States earlier this year, is set to begin on Dec. 8, according to court documents. He is charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations resulting in death.
A Justice Department affidavit from the time of Sharifullah’s arrest in March outlines his alleged role in the bombing.
He had been in prison in Afghanistan from approximately 2019 until about two weeks before the attack, Sharifullah told FBI special agents after waiving his Miranda rights. Once he was released, another member of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate contacted him for help with an operation.
Sharifullah was tasked with scouting out a route for the would-be bomber to get as close to U.S. forces at Hamid Karzai International Airport as possible without being detected ahead of time.
U.S. authorities have identified the bomber as Abdul Rahman al Logari, who used a body-worn improvised explosive device and had also been in prison before being released amid the Taliban’s rapid rise in August 2021.
This week was the fourth anniversary of the bombing.
President Donald Trump hosted many of the Gold Star families of the 13 service members killed in the attack on Monday, where he signed a proclamation honoring their sacrifice.
“It was really amazing,” Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of U.S. Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of the 13 service members killed in the bombing, said Tuesday on CNN about the meeting in the Oval Office. “It was a moment I’ll never forget. To have their names echo in the halls of the White House was spectacular.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who attended the meeting, announced that he expects the Defense Department’s latest review into the withdrawal to conclude by the middle of next year.
“I would anticipate middle of 2026, that’s how thorough of a review we’re doing,” Hegseth said. “Hopefully a little sooner, but we’re going into everything to get an understanding of what happened.”
It is unclear how this review will differ from the ones the military and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have already conducted on the withdrawal.
DOD leaders presented the findings of the initial investigation, which indicated that it was a single blast without any follow-up attacks, in February 2022. In March 2023, Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and leg in the blast, told lawmakers he believed that he identified the would-be bomber but was not given the green light to engage by his superiors.
The now-former head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, directed the U.S. Army Central commander, Lt. Gen. Pat Frank, to review testimony from those who were not interviewed during the first probe. Frank interviewed Vargas-Andrews as a part of his investigation.
During this second investigation, they were able to capture an image of the person Vargas-Andrews had identified, and a subsequent facial analysis did not match with al Logari.
Hegseth’s new investigation into the withdrawal is being led by Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson and an Afghanistan War veteran.
TRUMP HONORS ABBEY GATE GOLD STAR FAMILIES NEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH PROCLAMATION
The Trump administration prioritized finding Sharifullah and any other terrorists responsible for the bombing from the outset, a White House official told the Washington Examiner at the time he was extradited. Officials increased interagency coordination and intelligence sharing with regional partners, leading Pakistani authorities to his whereabouts. Pakistani authorities apprehended him in late February, and he was ultimately handed over to the U.S. in early March.
Sharifullah admitted to U.S. authorities, according to the affidavit, that he was involved in the planning of two other terrorist attacks. One was committed on June 20, 2016, near the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The other was the March 22, 2024, attack by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate on a popular concert venue near Moscow. The first attack resulted in the deaths of more than 10 security guards, while the concert venue attack resulted in roughly 130 deaths.