Afghan National Sentenced to 15 Years After Plotting ISIS-Inspired Election Day Terror Attack Inside the United States

The United States carried out the kind of quiet, coordinated counterterrorism operation that never makes headlines until the case is closed and the prison doors slam shut. Today, federal authorities confirmed that 19-year-old Abdullah Haji Zada, an Afghan national and lawful permanent resident of the United States, has been sentenced to the statutory maximum of 15 years in federal prison after attempting to acquire assault-style weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for an Election Day terrorist attack planned for November 2024 — an attack prosecutors say was meant to be carried out on behalf of ISIS.

The government does not use language like this lightly. ISIS-directed plots inside the U.S. are rare, but ISIS-inspired plots are always a concern. What makes this case stand out is how far the defendants were willing to go, how precise their targeting was, and how early federal agents intervened before the plan could break containment. According to court documents, Zada and his co-conspirator, 28-year-old Afghan citizen Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, arranged to receive two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, fully aware the weapons were meant to be used to strike U.S. civilians at polling locations.

This wasn’t abstract radicalization. It wasn’t online rhetoric or extremist chatter. It was operational.
It was a blueprint. And it was stopped just in time.

The plot, as described by prosecutors, was ISIS-inspired in ideology and ISIS-aligned in structure. Federal authorities traced communications, intent, and weapon acquisition steps that followed the same playbook ISIS-linked actors have used globally: secure weapons quietly, conduct reconnaissance, assign symbolic timing, then inflict maximum casualties. In this case, the target was an American election — one of the most symbolic pressure points in the entire democratic system.

Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg didn’t mince words. He made it clear that Zada’s betrayal carried weight:
“Zada was welcomed into the United States… yet he chose to embrace terrorism and plot an ISIS-inspired attack on Election Day.”
The sentence and his eventual removal, he said, reflect the seriousness of the crime — and the government’s readiness to use every legal instrument to prevent such attacks from taking root.

The FBI called the case exactly what it was: an ISIS-inspired domestic terror plot stopped before it broke the surface.
FBI Counterterrorism Assistant Director Donald Holstead emphasized that the bureau’s detection and disruption pipeline is built precisely to stop these kinds of small-cell operations long before a community pays the price.
U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester reinforced the point — the “exceptional work of law enforcement” prevented a mass casualty event.

FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Doug Goodwater made the emotional gravity unmistakable:
“By hatching a violent plot… the defendant turned his back on the country that provided him safety and refuge.”
And he praised the Joint Terrorism Task Force for its immediate action once intelligence signaled the plot had crossed from ideology into preparation.

Zada’s story didn’t end at his arrest. Although he was only seventeen during parts of the conspiracy, he entered a guilty plea as an adult in April 2025 and agreed to a judicial order of removal that will revoke his lawful permanent resident status and permanently bar him from the United States after his release. He also waived the right to appeal the conviction or his deportation — a rare but telling clause that underscores the strength of the government’s case.

Tawhedi, the older co-conspirator, faces even heavier potential penalties:
Up to 20 years for material support to ISIS.
Up to 15 years for the firearm-related terrorism charge.
He has not yet been sentenced.

Federal agents described the operation that brought both men down as an interagency effort spanning the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, USCIS, multiple police departments, and several Oklahoma-based law enforcement bodies — all working under the umbrella of the Oklahoma City Joint Terrorism Task Force, one of the quieter but more capable counterterrorism nodes in the United States.

The Justice Department also emphasized that this case is tied to two major national initiatives:
Operation Take Back America — a broad DOJ effort targeting cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and violent foreign criminal networks operating inside the U.S.
And the Homeland Security Task Force initiative under Executive Order 14159, a whole-of-government counter-cartel and counter-terror partnership designed to close every gap from weapons facilitation to foreign extremist infiltration.

Zada and Tawhedi’s case is one of the rare instances where a domestic ISIS-inspired plot intersected with the electoral process. The fact that federal agents moved when they did — before weapons were ever fired — is the reason this case ends in a courtroom instead of a morgue.

Their removal from the United States after completing their prison terms will close the loop.
Their attempt to weaponize American soil on behalf of ISIS failed.
And the quiet network of federal, state, and local authorities that caught the plot did what the public never sees — prevent the tragedy before it happens.

This is a case where the system worked. And the cost of failure would have been catastrophic.

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