(NewsNation) — The mother of a soldier killed in the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport‘s Abbey Gate during the United States’ chaotic exit from Afghanistan is “so pleased” that a suspect in the attack has been extradited.
“If we can take one terrorist off the list of harming Americans, especially our soldiers, then that is a good day,” Paula Knauss Selph told “Morning in America.”
The Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing killed 13 American service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians. Selph’s son, 23-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, was among the victims.
President Donald Trump announced the arrest of accused ISIS-Khorasan member Mohammad Sharifullah on Tuesday during a joint address to Congress.
White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka told NewsNation on Wednesday that Sharifullah confessed to involvement in the attack.
“When he saw my team, he knew that the freedom he had enjoyed for far too long was over, and he will die in prison,” Gorka said on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
It’s a development Selph and other victims’ family members have been sorely waiting for.
“As long as we’re bringing justice for our men and women who wear the uniform, then we are truly doing our job as Americans,” she said. “And I want to give kudos to the president for keeping his word to many Americans right now.”
She said that while her son’s life was cut short, he truly believed in his military mission: “If he had to choose it again, I’m certain Ryan would say, ‘Send me.'”
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was among the 13 American service members killed in the 2021 bombing at the Kabul airport‘s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan. 
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was among the 13 American service members killed in the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport‘s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan. 
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was among the 13 American service members killed in the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport‘s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan.
Selph said she met former President Joe Biden at a White House Memorial Day event, though she never got the accountability she wanted.
“Biden robbed us a little bit there, didn’t he?” she said.
“His conclusion was that a photo-op was a better decision on that day with me than it was to answer questions that I really had, ” Selph recounted.
A report from Republican representatives on the House Foreign Affairs Committee was released in September 2024, accusing the Biden administration of failing to see warning signs about how quickly Kabul would fall to the Taliban, as well as delaying an evacuation, NewsNation’s partner The Hill reported.
Biden-era White House officials said the report cherry-picked details and didn’t place enough blame on President Donald Trump, who began the withdrawal process by signing a deal with Afghanistan’s militant Islamist Taliban in 2020.
“President (Joe) Biden faced a choice. It was between ending the war or escalating it,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in December 2024.
NewsNation’s Elina Shirazi and Joe Khalil contributed to this report.