Muhammad Sharifullah, a man accused of assisting in the deadly 2021 Kabul airport suicide bombing, made his initial court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday. 

Sharifullah, allegedly a member of the ISKP group, is charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, a crime that carries a potential life sentence.

Wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and utilizing an interpreter, Sharifullah appeared before a judge.  He did not enter a plea and was appointed a public defender.  His next court appearance is scheduled for Monday, and he will remain in custody until then.

According to a Justice Department affidavit, Sharifullah confessed to scouting the route to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) for the suicide bomber. 

ISKP militants reportedly provided him with a phone and SIM card to conduct this reconnaissance.  After reporting the route clear, Sharifullah was instructed to leave the area. The affidavit states that Sharifullah later recognized the bomber as an associate from his time in prison.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo of FBI agents bringing Sharifullah to court in handcuffs.

A news story by CBS has claimed that Sharifullah was arrested in a joint raid by Pakistani intelligence officials and CIA around 10 days ago. However, according The Khorasan Diary, an Islamabad-based think tank and digital media outlet covering security and conflict, Sharifullah was arrested from Balochistan in mid-February after a tip-off from CIA.

The arrest was announced by US President Donald Trump in a speech to Congress on Tuesday. He had thanked Pakistan for helping capture the ‘monster’ involved in the Kabul attack. In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had thanked Trump for appreciating Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts.