President Trump announced the capture of a senior Islamic State leader in Afghanistan and Pakistan who helped plan the 2021 attack on Kabul airport, which killed 13 members of the American service and dozens of other people.
“We have just learned the best terrorist responsible for this atrocity, and he is on his way here to face the rapid sword of American justice,” Trump said during his speech at Congress on Tuesday.
Current and former officials said the United States had provided information to Pakistan who led to his capture of the leader, Mohmmad Sharifullah, who helped draw the attack on the entrance to the abbey of Kabul airport.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif from Pakistan said Sharifullah, an Afghan national, was arrested by Pakistani security forces in the border region with Afghanistan. Axios first reported the details of Mr. Sharifullah’s arrest.
The abbey attack has become a symbol of the chaos of Afghanistan American withdrawal in the first months of Biden administration. The soldiers had been warned of the possibility of terrorist attacks at the airport, where thousands of Afghans converged, hoping to flee while the Taliban took hold of the country.
Although he did not appoint Mr. Biden during his remarks on the attack, Mr. Trump deplored the withdrawal of Afghanistan as “disastrous and incompetent”. He called the attack on the Gate abbey “perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country”.
Since his entry into office, Mr. Trump’s CIA director John Ratcliffe, spoke with the Pakistan intelligence chief, Lieutenant-General Asim Malik, about Mr. Sharifullah, current and former officials. Mr. Sharifullah is a head of the group known as the Islamic State of the province of Khorasan, or Isis-K.
Cliff Sims, informal advisor to Mr. Ratcliffe, wrote in an article on social networks that one of Mr. Trump’s first orders at the agency was to prioritize the hunt for the abbey attack.
“During his second day of mandate, Ratcliffe raised the question during his first call with the Pakistani spy chief and reiterated him at their meeting at the Munich security conference,” Sims wrote. “This cooperation has led to a huge victory against terrorism for the United States and progress towards justice for the families of the American heroes that we lost that day.”
In another article on social networks, Kash Patel, FBI director, said that Sharifullah had been extradited to the United States. “One more step of justice for these American heroes and their families,” wrote Mr. Patel.
An American official said that the CIA and the FBI had been informed 10 days ago that Pakistan had captured Sharifullah and that he was to arrive in the United States on Wednesday, said Axios earlier.
