Utah father reacts to verdict in Kabul’s airport bombing case, says accountability fight continues
May 6, 2026, 8:46 PM | Updated: 9:29 pm
SANDY — A Utah father whose son was killed in the 2021 bombing at Kabul’s Abbey Gate said a recent federal court verdict is disappointing, but not the end of the search for accountability.
A federal jury this week convicted Mohammad Sharifullah of supporting ISIS, the terror group responsible for the airport attack during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Related: Afghanistan calls on Afghans who helped US in war and are now stuck in Qatar to return home
However, jurors could not agree on whether he was directly responsible for the deaths of those killed in the airport bombing, including 13 U.S. service members.
Among them was Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover from Utah.
His father, Darin Hoover, said he and other families have been closely following the case for months.
“Yeah. Ever since when President Trump first addressed the Congress and the nation after he got first elected that following February,” said Hoover. “We’ve been following it since then and wondering where this is all going to go.”
Hoover said the families had hoped the trial would bring a clear sense of justice.
“The hope was that we’d at least get one. We’d get at least one of the people that touched Abbey Gate that day,” he said.
Instead, Hoover said the outcome left him frustrated, especially when he feels prosecutors made a strong case tying Sharifullah to the attack
“He’s been doing this since at least 2016 and to have the jury come back and say, sorry, we’re deadlocked on this one, yes, very disappointing. They got him on everything else but deadlocked on Abbey Gate for whatever reason,” he said.
Still, Hoover said the verdict does not end the pursuit of justice and accountability for the airport attack.
“Still keep fighting. This isn’t the end of the road. This is a speed bump, if you will,” he said.
Hoover said families are now looking ahead to additional reports and investigations related to the airport attack, especially one he said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth promised them would be “all encompassing.”
“We’ve got that report coming out, so that’s the next thing we’re looking forward to,” he said.
Even though he is disappointed at this latest verdict, Hoover said the support his family has received has made a difference.
“It has been amazing. All the support that we’ve gotten from literally throughout the country, and a little bit of the world, too, has been amazing,” he said.
He said that support, even in small ways, helps ensure the service members are not forgotten.
“Even if it’s just as simple as saying their names,” he said. “Because that way, if they continue to say their names, they don’t die the second death.”
