ISIS-K member sentenced to 20 years in prison in case tied to Kabul bombing

A member of an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for aiding the terrorist organization, which took credit for a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 160 Afghans at the Kabul airport five years ago during the American military's chaotic withdrawal from the country.A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to the affiliate, known as ISIS-K. But jurors could not agree whether he bore some responsibility for the airport bombing on Aug. 26, 2021.U.S. troops were conducting an evacuation operation at the airport when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near an entry point known as Abbey Gate. Sharifullah's role in the attack was scouting a route to Hamid Karzai International Airport, prosecutors said.Sharifullah, 28, received the maximum sentence for his one-count conviction in an international terrorism case that President Trump heralded last year during a speech to a joint session of Congress. Sharifullah was captured in early 2025 by Pakistani intelligence and the CIA near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, and was extradite...