KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A 27-year-old Afghan man has admitted to plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. election day in 2024 on behalf of ISIS and now faces up to 35 years in prison.
In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma said Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS, as well as attempting to obtain firearms to carry out the violent act.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the material support charge and up to 15 years in prison for the firearms charge., according to the release.
“By pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting an attack against innocent Americans on Election Day, this defendant endangered lives and gravely betrayed the nation that gave him refuge,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
She added that Tawhedi’s guilty plea ensures he will be held accountable, stripped of his immigration status, and permanently removed from the United States.
Tawhedi was arrested by the FBI in October 2024 in Oklahoma. His teenage brother-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada, was also detained in connection with the plot and faces up to 15 years in prison.
Court documents reveal that Tawhedi had purchased two AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition. He had also bought one-way tickets for his family to return to Afghanistan before executing the planned attack.
According to U.S. media reports, Tawhedi arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 on a Special Immigrant Visa, shortly after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
This case comes amid growing concern among U.S. officials over the threat posed by IS-KP, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan.
Last year, former US Central Command chief General Frank McKenzie warned that the group was actively planning attacks on the US, calling such an incident “inevitable.”
Despite Taliban claims that it has dismantled IS-KP, the group continues to carry out deadly attacks in Afghanistan and abroad, including in Russia and Iran last year.
