United States Senator Deb Fischer’s Weekly Column
Last week, ISIS-K terrorist Mohammed Sharifullah admitted his involvement in multiple terror attacks. He admitted that he conducted surveillance for a suicide bombing at the Canadian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2016. He admitted that he trained the attackers who killed 130 people in Moscow, Russia last year. And he admitted that he strategized for the Abbey Gate suicide bombing that occurred during the 2021 withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan—an attack that took the lives of 13 American service members, including Nebraska’s own Corporal Daegan Page.
Sharifullah admitted all this. And as President Trump said in his address to Congress last week, he will “face the swift sword of American justice” for his crimes.
Earlier this month, Pakistani authorities acted on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) information to detain Sharifullah in their country. They coordinated with the American government—the FBI, CIA, and Department of Justice (DOJ)—to extradite him to the United States to answer for his crimes. Just last week, a court charged Sharifullah with providing and conspiring to provide material support for terrorism. His fate will soon be determined by the American justice system.
The devastating Abbey Gate bombing resulted in the murder of members of the U.S. military and approximately 160 civilians outside the Kabul airport. Thirteen American families were deprived of their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters serving in Afghanistan. Like President Trump said, Sharifullah was a “monster” who was integrally involved in perpetrating that attack.
Court documents show that Sharifullah was released from prison two weeks before the bombing at Abbey Gate. Soon after his release, ISIS members contacted him for assistance in the attack. Allegedly, Sharifullah scouted a route for a suicide bomber and conducted surveillance for law enforcement on that route. This man’s ‘go ahead’ ensured that the suicide bomber could reach his target.
The detention and trial of Sharifullah is a message for the families of the Americans who were lost in the Abbey Gate bombing. It is a message that the Trump administration is committed to delivering justice for them—however delayed that justice might be. It is a message that we will honor the lives of our service members by avenging their deaths.
It is also a message for those who would threaten Americans, especially terrorists like Sharifullah. This administration will not stand for terror, and America will respond forcefully to attacks on our own people.
Whichever party is in power, this is how our nation must deal with terror: using the swift sword of American justice. I will watch eagerly for that justice to be upheld in this case.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
