President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the terrorist mastermind responsible for killing 13 U.S. service members during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 had been detained and was on his way to the U.S.
Trump delivered the news during his address to Congress.
‘Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended 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 said.
‘And I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster.’
He said the chaotic withdrawal had been one of the most embarrassing episodes in American history but offered no further details on the prisoner.
The local branch of the Islamic State is believed to have been responsible.
Two White House officials named the suspect as Mohammad Sharifullah, one of the leaders of ISIS-K.
One official also said Sharifullah was behind last year’s Moscow concert hall attack in which 133 people were killed, as well as other terrorist operations.
Donald Trump: ‘Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice’
Desperate Afghans seeking safety at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021, just before U.S. forces finished their evacuation
The Americans killed in the blast were: (left to right, starting with top row) Cpl. Daegan W. Page – Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo – Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover – Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza – Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum – Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui – Cpl. Hunter Lopez – Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz – Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss – Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez – Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak – Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola – Sgt. Nicole L. Gee
The official added that Pakistani authorities used intel to locate him.
‘The FBI interviewed him over the weekend where he confessed and he’s being extradited here as we speak,’ he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X: ‘One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families.’
A U.S. official said he was expected to arrive in the US Wednesday and that an indictment would be unsealed, accusing him of planning and overseeing the suicide bombing.
‘It was the president’s number-one counterterrorism priority since January 20,’ said another senior administration official.
Trump ordered John Ratcliffe, his new head of the CIA, to prioritize hunting down the mastermind responsible for the attack.
The deadly assault on Kabul airport was one of the darkest days of the Biden presidency.
The rapid collapse of Afghan security forces meant tens of thousands of people thronged the facility seeking escape after the Taliban had overrun the capital Kabul.
Trump revealed the news before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night
The result was chaos as desperate families tried to get through a security cordon.
And it descended into tragedy when a suicide bomber killed 13 American service personnel and about 170 Afghans, by detonating a suicide bomb in August 2021.
Biden promised to go after the group responsible.
‘For those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget,’ Biden said in an address at the White House.
‘We will hunt you down and make you pay.’
He said he took responsibility for what had happened but stood by his decision to withdraw troops.