A young Afghan living in the United States was on Wednesday sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning an attack on American election day in November 2024. Abdullah Haji Zada, 19, was arrested along with another Afghan national, his brother-in-law Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, in Oklahoma, southern United States, weeks before the presidential election on November 5. Both are accused of planning to carry out attacks on behalf of the Islamic State group (ISIS).
Abdullah Haji Zada pleaded guilty in April 2025 to possession of a firearm with intent to commit assault. A federal judge in Oklahoma City on Wednesday sentenced him to the maximum 15 years in prison, after which he will be deported from the United States. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi also pleaded guilty in June and will be sentenced at a later date.
The Afghan entered the United States in September 2021 and lives in Oklahoma with his wife and young children. According to court documents, the FBI, America’s federal police, learned by accessing Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi’s Google account that he regularly consulted ISIS propaganda.
He made contact via Telegram messages with someone identified by the FBI as an ISIS recruiter and discussed his plans to obtain weapons and send his family back to Afghanistan, according to the same source.
The two men were arrested in secret meetings with FBI agents to buy assault rifles and ammunition, according to US judicial authorities.
