Capture of ISIS-K operative was not solely the work of Trump, Biden officials say

Since President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the surprise arrest of a man accused of taking part in the killing of 13 U.S. service members in Afghanistan, his top national security aides have repeatedly disparaged the Biden administration as either unwilling or unable to bring those responsible to justice.

The attack, conducted by an ISIS-K suicide bomber, killed an estimated 170 Afghan civilians waiting outside Kabul airport near an entrance known as “Abbey Gate.” The deaths were emblematic of the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021.

Five former Biden administration officials, as well as one current U.S. official, say the capture of the ISIS-K operative, Mohammad Sharifullah, was not solely the work of the Trump administration. They say it was aided by a years-long joint intelligence effort by the United States and Pakistan targeting ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, including Sharifullah in particular.

“This didn’t just happen overnight,” a former senior Biden administration national security official said. “This is the culmination of efforts that were quite deliberate.”

Asked about the claim, Brian Hughes, a National Security Council spokesman for the Trump administration, dismissed it.

“This arrest and extradition was made possible because of the emphasis the Trump Administration placed on this case,” he said in a statement. “Since January 20th, we have prioritized engagement with the Pakistani government on this case and provided the critical intelligence.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe also credited the Trump administration. “Remember, the Biden administration had that 3½ years to do this. They didn’t find anyone,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “They didn’t hold anyone accountable.”

National security adviser Mike Waltz said on Fox News: “In three years, the Biden administration couldn’t bring this man to justice. In a month, through our intel sharing relationship, the great work of Director Ratcliffe, [Attorney General] Pam Bondi, [FBI Director] Kash Patel, he landed overnight.”

But the former senior Biden national security officials and two U.S. defense officials said the Biden administration stepped up intelligence sharing with Pakistan many months ago and built an intelligence sharing cell designed to target ISIS-K members living along the Afghan-Pakistan border. They said this weekend’s capture was a result of those efforts.

Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, visited Pakistan several times in recent years and played a key role in strengthening relations and intelligence sharing, said the former Biden administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence-gathering efforts.

Last summer, Pakistani security forces arrested a man with the same name along the Afghan-Pakistan border, only to learn they had the wrong man, the two former officials said. “We were very focused on this guy in particular,” one of the officials said.

Ratcliffe said that he highlighted the case with Pakistani officials on his second day on the job as CIA director. But he credited Trump himself for the arrest.

“It’s the Trump effect,” Ratcliffe said on Fox Business. “Everywhere I go, everyone I talk to, all of our foreign partners, allies, and even problematic partners, want to do more with the United States. It’s the Trump effect.”

The former Biden administration officials credited the new administration for continuing the intelligence sharing and spurring Pakistan to find the terrorist, but they also expressed annoyance that Trump aides had accused them of being negligent.

“That’s just false,” one said. 

Sharifullah’s role in attack

Trump also appeared to overstate Sharifullah’s role in the attack, at least as it was described in an FBI affidavit and a Justice Department news release. 

In his address to Congress this week, Trump said Sharifullah was the “top terrorist responsible” for the Abbey Gate bombing.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” he said. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”

Kelly Barnett, whose son, Darrin “Taylor” Hoover, was killed in the attack, told NBC News that Trump told her Sharifullah was one of the key planners.

“The president came on and he told us they had caught this guy, this terrorist. He said, ‘We’re not going to call him mastermind, because he’s not a mastermind,’” Barnett said. “He’s, you know, pure evil. But he was the architect of the bombing.” 

Justice Department prosecutors say in court papers that Sharifullah said that he had been in prison until two weeks before the bombing. He told the FBI he was recruited after his release from prison and was provided with a motorcycle and a cellphone. 

“Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker,” says a Justice Department news release summarizing the court documents. “Sharifullah specifically checked for law enforcement and American or Taliban checkpoints; he then communicated to other ISIS-K members that he believed the route was clear and that the attacker would not be detected.”

Court papers also say he confessed to participating in other terrorist attacks in Moscow and Kabul. ISIS-K, which stands for ISIS-Khorasan, is an offshoot of the group that emerged in Syria and Iraq more than a decade ago known as ISIS.

In April 2023, the Taliban killed an ISIS-K figure described as the mastermind of the Abbey Gate attack, with no U.S. involvement, Biden administration officials said at the time.