A top Islamic State Khorasan leader and mastermind of the Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai Airport that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S troops and scores of Afghans, has been arrested from the border province of Afghanistan and Pakistan in late February 2025, a Senior Pakistani Official told The Khorasan Diary.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday thanked the Pakistani government for apprehending the "top terrorist" involved in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing.

Muhammad Sharifullah alia Jaffar was arrested on a tip-off by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) supported operation, two senior Pakistani officials confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity, signalling a renewed cooperation on the Counter Terrorism front by both countries.

Sharifullah, who joined the Islamic State of Khorasan in 2016, has been part of a larger ISKP cell involved in at least 21 attacks in Afghanistan particularly Kabul and was a close aid of ISKP leader, Shahab Al-Muhajir, before he was first arrested by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in September 2019. “He escaped from jail during August 15, 2021, when the Taliban took over,” an investigator who questioned Sharifullah told The Khorasan Diary, he also revealed that he met with the bomber and planned the entire plot while he was in prison, the official said. Shairfullah was on the run when he was arrested through a mutual intelligence-sharing mechanism between Pakistan and the U.S. from the border areas in Southwest Balochistan.

The August 26, 2021 suicide bombing resulted in the killing of 183 people,  Abu Saad Al-Khorasani of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), an ideologue of ISKP whose own name was Ziauddin alias Mulla Muhammad not only claimed responsibility for the attack but also outlined the group's agenda for the future – “Khorasan, the Graveyard of the Crusaders and Land of the Conquerors” said the pamphlet. The prison documents show that both Sharifullah and Ziauddin were in the same prison at the time, coinciding with what Sahrifullah told investigators. Ziauddin was killed in an operation in May of 2023 in Afghanistan.

In an interview with FBI Special Agent after waiving his Miranda rights on March 2, 2025 Shahrifullah said that he was in prison in Afghanistan from 2019 until approximately two weeks before the Hamid Karzai International Airport attack. Upon his release, he was contacted by an ISIS-K member to arrange for his assistance in an upcoming attack. They provided him with a motorcycle, funds for a cell phone and a sim card and instructions to open an account on a particular social media platform to communicate with them during the attack. 

After making these arrangements he was tasked with scouting a route near the airport and conducting surveillance on the route specifically checking for law enforcement officials and American or Taliban check-post. He communicated with the members about the route clearance and also gave a green signal for the movement of the bomber. After these details were shared Sharifullah was asked to leave the premises and later that same day he learned about the attack and recognized the alleged bomber as an ISIS-K operative he had known while incarcerated. 

A list of those detainees from the Bagram and Pull-e-Charkhi prisons available with The Khorasan Diary shows more than 1700 hardcore militants who were in prison upto August 15, 2021. These also included the names of a 48-member ISKP external operations cell arrested in a 7-month-long operation by Pakistan, some of those who were involved in the attack in Kerman, Iran and Moscow, Russia in 2024, that resulted in the deaths of more than 300 individuals collectively. A reference to these arrests has also been made in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report in February 2025.

Sharifullah was specifically involved in the US Embassy Kabul guard bombing in 2016. He also provided weapons training for the Moscow night club assault in 2024 and trained online two attackers of the Moscow attack Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024. 

Sharifullah is currently in the process of being extradited from Pakistan to the U.S. under a prisoner exchange treaty.

This article is part of a larger research project by the author, Iftikhar Firdous, who is currently writing a book on the Islamic State of Khorasan. He can be reached at: [email protected]