Washington DC - A man suspected of planning the devastating attack on Kabul airport in August 2021, which killed more than 170 Afghans and 13 US soldiers, will appear in federal court after being extradited to the US.

The Justice Department named the man as Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, and said he is expected to appear in a Virginia court on Wednesday.

Sharifullah, who is a leader of the Islamic State Khorasan branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been charged with "providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death."

The Justice Department said Wednesday the operative admitted to FBI Special Agents "to helping prepare" for the attack, "including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker."

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President Donald Trump has announced Sharifullah's capture during his address to Congress.

"Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice," Trump said without naming the suspect.

Shortly after Trump's remarks, FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the federal police, the CIA, and the Department of Justice "have extradited one of the terrorists responsible for the murder of the 13 American soldiers at Abbey Gate during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal."

"One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families."

On August 26, 2021 a suicide bomber blew himself up by one of Kabul airport's gates amid a shambolic evacuation operation for people trying to flee Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Trump often used the attack in recent years as a symbol of the "disastrous" withdrawal from Afghanistan under his predecessor Joe Biden.