Pakistan hails renewed cooperation with US after Sharifullah arrest
Liaquat Ali
Islamabad: Pakistan this week highlighted its counterterrorism cooperation with Washington after the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah, whom it blames for a 2021 attack on US troops at Kabul airport, in a military operation along the border with Afghanistan.
“We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, hours after US President Donald Trump thanked the country for the arrest, adding Sharifullah was on his way to the United States.
The United States has charged Sharifullah with helping plan the attack and a hearing was scheduled for him in a federal court in Virginia on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The 2021 bombing at Kabul airport killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers as they sought to help Americans and Afghans flee in the chaotic aftermath of the Taliban takeover.
The attack was claimed by ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.
The U.S. Justice Department has charged Sharifullah with “providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources” to ISIS-K.
“He confessed. This was the planner of that bombing,” White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.
Sharifullah is in US custody, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X alongside a picture of agents standing in front of the plane that he was due to arrive on.
Pakistan had launched an operation along its Afghan border to capture Sharifullah, whom Sharif described as an Afghan national and top commander for Islamic State Khorasan.
“We thank US President Donald Trump for acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counterterrorism efforts,” Sharif added in another statement.
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, had spoken with US national security adviser Mike Waltz, according to a Pakistani foreign office statement.
Dar “reiterated that Pakistan looked forward to building on its longstanding and broad-based relationship with the United States under President Trump and his administration”, it said.
