USA v. Najibullah, Haji
Manhattan, NY

Taliban

A federal grand jury in New York unsealed a superseding indictment in October 2021 charging, Haji Najibullah, an Afghanistan national with federal terrorism-related offenses spanning approximately 2007 to 2009 and stemming from his role as a Taliban commander in Afghanistan. Haji Najibullah, aka Najibullah Naim, Abu Tayeb, Atiqullah and Nesar Ahmad Mohammad, of Afghanistan, was previously charged with crimes related to the 2008 kidnapping of an American journalist and two Afghan nationals. In addition to those charges, the superseding indictment charges Najibullah with attacks on U.S. troops conducted by Najibullah and the Taliban fighters under his command, including a June 26, 2008, attack on an American military convoy that killed three U.S. Army servicemembers – Sergeants First Class Matthew L. Hilton and Joseph A. McKay, and Sergeant Mark Palmateer – and their Afghan interpreter, as well as an Oct. 27, 2008, attack that resulted in the shooting down of a U.S. military helicopter. In October 2020, Najibullah was arrested and extradited from Ukraine to the United States where he remains in federal custody.