WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah, a suspected ISIS member and one of the alleged architects of the 2021 Kabul airport bombing, was completed in just one week as part of a complex international operation that involved coordination across multiple countries and entry into Pakistan.
In an interview with Fox News, Patel detailed the scope of the mission and emphasized the FBI’s recent record in apprehending high-priority fugitives.
“In the last three weeks, the FBI has arrested and brought to justice — thanks to the Department of Justice and Pam Bondi — three of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted,” Patel said. “Let me just say that again. Not one, not two, but three of the FBI’s Most Wanted Top Ten are now in custody because of our relationships with folks like Director Radcliffe and Secretary Hegseth and [Senator] Rubio, and the list goes on.”
Patel said Sharifullah was captured in “just one short week,” describing him as “one of the architects of the Abbey Gate explosion that killed 13 of our service members.”
“We did that in one week,” he added, “flying through multiple countries and going into Pakistan and utilizing our liaison relationships and the leverage that we have — thanks to great guys like Johnny Radcliffe — and getting a modicum of justice to the American people.”
Sharifullah, whose arrest had previously been confirmed by U.S. officials, is suspected of helping plan the August 26, 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s Abbey Gate during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The attack, claimed by ISIS-K, killed 13 American troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians.
“And just to put that in perspective,” Patel added, “those folks have been on the run for four years. And in the last 12 months, before I got into this seat, Trey, do you know how many Top Ten FBI’s Most Wanted were arrested by the FBI? Zero.”
According to U.S. and Pakistani officials, Sharifullah was captured near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border in an operation led by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), based on intelligence provided by the United States.
President Donald Trump, in a recent address to Congress, acknowledged the arrest and publicly thanked the Pakistani government for its cooperation in the operation.
