An Afghan man convicted in the United States of providing material support to ISIS-K has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in a case linked to the deadly 2021 bombing at Kabul airport.

A federal jury in Virginia convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to ISIS-K. However, jurors could not reach a unanimous decision on whether he was responsible for deaths resulting from the August 26, 2021, attack at Abbey Gate.

The bombing, carried out by a suicide attacker during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, killed 13 US soldiers and around 160 Afghans, according to US authorities.

US prosecutors said Sharifullah’s role included scouting a route to the airport ahead of the attack. However, his lawyers argued that he was never convicted of directly participating in the bombing and that prosecutors had failed to establish a direct link between him and the attack.

Sharifullah, 28, did not testify during the trial and declined to address the court before sentencing. US District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the maximum 20-year sentence for the conviction.

Prosecutors also accused Sharifullah of involvement in other attacks, including the 2024 attack on a concert hall in Moscow. His defense team disputed the allegations and said statements he made during FBI questioning were unreliable.

The case stems from the chaotic US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The Abbey Gate bombing was claimed by ISIS-K.

A US Central Command review previously identified the suicide bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an ISIS member who had been released from an Afghan prison before the attack.