Overview
- U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026 imposed the maximum 20‑year term after hearing victim impact statements and noting the defendant showed no remorse.
- A federal jury in April convicted Sharifullah of providing material support to the ISIS‑K affiliate but deadlocked on whether any deaths at Abbey Gate “resulted from” that conspiracy.
- The Justice Department and FBI say evidence and court records show Sharifullah ran surveillance, transported attackers and handled communications for more than a dozen ISIS‑K operations from 2016 through 2025.
- Sharifullah was captured in March 2025 after Pakistani forces acted on CIA information and was publicly flagged by President Trump; his lawyers say the sentence rests on a single count and dispute that the trial proved his role in the Kabul bombing.
- The case underlines both international counterterrorism cooperation and the limits of U.S. material‑support charges for proving direct legal responsibility for specific battlefield deaths in the 2021 Kabul withdrawal attack.