Kabul Airport bombing suspect, who was arrested in Pakistan last week and extradited to the United States, was not a top-level planner of the deadly attack in August 2021, the FBI has said. 

However, Mohammad Sharifullah will remain in custody on charges of providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, US magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick stated in a federal court on Monday. 

During an address to Congress last week, US President Donald Trump described Sharifullah as “the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul amid the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

However, FBI Special Agent Seth Parker agreed with Sharifullah’s public defender on Monday that the alleged terrorist was not one of the top-level planners of the bombing, according to Fox News.

Parker alleged that Sharifullah was tasked by ISIS-K (Daesh) higher-ups with conducting reconnaissance ahead of the attack, including surveilling the road leading to Abbey Gate for the presence of roadblocks and law enforcement.

The hearing, the second for Sharifullah since he was brought on US soil last week, also revealed that the alleged ISIS-K member has claimed he was not present during the bombing and was unaware of the specifics of the target.

Parker, however, testified that Sharifullah was indeed an ISIS-K member with experience in helping carry out suicide bombings.

The Justice Department said last week that Sharifullah admitted to FBI agents during interviews that he conducted surveillance and later transported a suicide bomber near the Canadian embassy in Kabul ahead of the June 2016 attack.

Sharifullah also confessed to sharing instructions on how to use AK-style rifles and other weapons with two of the four gunmen responsible for the March 2024 ISIS-K attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which killed approximately 130 people.

Parker testified that Sharifullah was living near Quetta, Pakistan, where he was raising livestock, including chickens, when he was apprehended.

If convicted, Sharifullah faces a maximum penalty of life in prison for his role in the Kabul Airport attack.

Bruno Kahl, Germany’s President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), says his organization is collecting information from Afghanistan, which will aid the German federal government in deciding how to engage with the Islamic Emirate.

In an interview with DW, Kahl said: “This is a question for politicians to answer. As an intelligence service, our duty is to gather critical information so the federal government can make informed decisions, and that is exactly what we are doing in Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, the deputy spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate Hamdullah Fitrat said that Afghanistan and Germany have historically maintained good relations and now seek to preserve these ties to secure the interests of both countries.

“Afghanistan wants good relations with all countries, including Germany, with whom we have a strong historical relationship. Afghanistan desires to maintain this relation with Germany,” he said.

This comes after Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry declared visas and documents issued by over ten Afghan embassies and diplomatic missions in Europe invalid. However, the consular documents from Afghanistan’s consulate in Munich, Germany, remain valid.

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said UNAMA’s focus for the past few months has been to establish a political pathway to enable Afghanistan to be fully reintegrated in the international system. 

However, she said “challenges remain” adding that “it is the responsibility of the de facto authorities to indicate whether they want Afghanistan to be reintegrated into the international system and, if so, whether they are willing to take the necessary steps. 

“The de facto authorities have so far treated the Afghan state’s international obligations selectively, rejecting some on the basis they allegedly impinge on the country’s sovereignty or violate their traditions. 

“But to be very clear, these international obligations affect not only the possibility of progress along the political pathway but, most crucially, the wellbeing of Afghanistan’s entire population, whose voices must be included in the political pathway,” she said.

Otunbayeva said while Afghans in the country have welcomed the absence of conflict under Islamic Emirate rule, more and more are expressing concerns about Afghanistan’s further isolation from the rest of the world. “Afghans increasingly resent the intrusions on their private lives by the de facto authorities,” she said. 

She stated that Afghans continue to face a severe humanitarian crisis defined by decades of conflict, entrenched poverty, climate-induced shocks, large population growth and increasing protection risks, especially for women and girls. 

In 2025, more than 50 percent of the population — some 23 million people — require humanitarian assistance. But this assistance is rapidly decreasing.

“The defunding of assistance is already having and will continue to have a significant impact on the Afghan people. In the past month, more than 200 health facilities have closed, impacting some 1.8 million people, essential malnutrition services for children have been limited and implementing partners have significantly reduced their footprint and coordination capacity,” she stated.

Otunbayeva added that despite the challenges Afghan women face, they have continued to meaningfully and comprehensively participate in the humanitarian response. Humanitarian partners remain committed to upholding the principle of women’s participation.

She also noted that while there have been some instances of interference in aid delivery, the Islamic Emirate authorities in Kabul and in the provinces “have generally cooperated with the UN and partners to enable provision of assistance and resolve cases of interference”.

Otunbayeva touched on the state of the economy and said while it grew around 2.7 percent in 2024, the current growth cannot compensate for the drop in foreign aid and the growing population. 

“In the longer term, the de facto authorities’ positive vision of economic self-sufficiency cannot reach its full potential unless ongoing obstacles to its reintegration into the international system are resolved.”

She went on to highlight a number of challenges including those relating to human rights, women’s rights, and girls’ education adding that UNAMA has also been closely observing the Islamic Emirate’s enforcement of its Law on the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue and its negative economic effects and impacts on Afghans’ human rights and private lives.

“The law demonstrates the de facto authorities’ prioritization of ideology over international obligations. It remains a major impediment to implementing the political pathway needed to reintegrate Afghanistan into the international community,” she said.

Otunbayeva went on to state that the “space for engagement is narrowing. There is a growing frustration on the part of some key international stakeholders that political engagement is not working.”

She questioned how the UN could move forward but said the mechanisms to address the issues that prevent Afghanistan’s reintegration with the international community are in place today. 

However, “the most helpful development would be a clear signal from the de facto authorities they are committed to the reintegration of Afghanistan with the international community with all that it implies,”she said.

Washington’s envoy to the UN, Dorothy Shea, also addressed the security council and said: “The security threat emanating from Afghanistan is a continuing driver of regional instability.”

She said the US is calling on the IEA to abide by their counterterrorism commitments.

“The United States is skeptical of the Taliban’s (IEA) willingness to engage in good faith in the Doha Process. We cannot build confidence with a group that unjustly detains Americans, has a long history of harboring terrorist groups on its soil, and ignores the basic rights and needs of its own people.”

The Chinese ambassador called on the Islamic Emirate to suppress terrorist groups in Afghanistan while Pakistan and Russia both expressed concern about the weapons that were left behind during the US troop withdrawal.

Pakistan’s envoy to the UN, Munir Akram added that the presence of several terrorist groups in Afghanistan is a threat to the entire region.

“Unfortunately, while fighting ISIS, the Kabul authorities are indifferent to containing other groups that pose a threat to the region and the world, such as Al-Qaeda, TTP, Baloch Liberation Army and Majid terrorist organization, all of which are present in Afghanistan.

“TTP, with more than 6,000 troops, is the largest terrorist group inside Afghanistan and has launched many attacks against Pakistan. They have advanced weapons left behind by foreign soldiers in Afghanistan,” he said.

In response, the Islamic Emirate says it has always tried to interact with the world, but some countries create obstacles.

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, says that UN decisions should not be influenced by big countries.

The IEA has also repeatedly said it will not allow terrorist organizations the threaten another country from Afghanistan. Authorities have also repeatedly dismissed claims of US weapons falling into the hands of foreign terrorist groups. 

The IEA has said all weapons and military equipment that was left behind by the US during their withdrawal are in the possession of the Islamic Emirate and are protected.