KILLER CAUGHT
ISIS boss behind Kabul bombing that killed 183 people arrested as Trump says he will face ‘sword of American justice’
The United States withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021
THE ISIS boss behind the devastating Kabul suicide bombing that killed 183 people has been arrested, as President Donald Trump warned he will face the "sword of American justice".
The bomber heinously detonated a device among packed crowds as they tried to flee Afghanistan, killing 170 Afghans and 13 US troops just days after the Taliban seized control of the capital.
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In his first address to Congress in his second term, Trump announced on Tuesday that Pakistan had assisted in the arrest of "the top terrorist responsible" for the August 26, 2021 airport "atrocity".
He added that the terrorist "is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice".
The Republican also took a swipe at his predecessor Joe Biden's oversight of the "disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan".
Trump thanked Pakistan "for helping arrest this monster" but gave no details of the suspect or the arrest operation.
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Meanwhile Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the man the country's security forces had arrested was Mohammad Sharifullah - a top commander for Islamic State Khorasan.
The United States withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan on the last day of August in 2021, ending a tumultuous evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans.
Citizens had rushed to Kabul's airport in the hope of desperately boarding a flight out of the country after the Taliban brutally seized control of the capital.
Heartbreaking images of crowds storming the airport, climbing on top of planes and some clinging to departing aircraft were released worldwide.
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In April 2023, the White House announced that an Islamic State official involved in plotting the attack at the airport's Abbey Gate had been killed in an operation by Afghanistan's new Taliban government.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for "acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan's role and support" in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan.
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He wrote on X: "We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability."
Pakistan's strategic importance has dwindled dramatically since the US and Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan - but militancy has rebounded in the border regions.
Pakistan city Islamabad accused capital Kabul of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, which the evil Taliban government denies.
The regional chapter of the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State Khorasan, has staged a growing number of bloody international attacks.
This includes heinously killing more than 140 people at a Moscow concert hall and over 90 in an Iranian bombing last year.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Center, said on X that Pakistan was attempting to "leverage US concerns about terror in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership."
He added: "Pakistan's help catching the Abbey Gate attack plotter should be seen in this context."
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