WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A distraught, sobbing Afghan Taliban member begged the court for mercy, but got none as an unmoved federal judge here Monday handed down maximum life sentences for convictions on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. A guard watches over a pile of burning drugs in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 25, 2008. Khan Mohammed, 38, of Nangarhar Province became the first person convicted and sentenced in the United States under a 2006 law that increased the penalty for a defendant found to be involved with terrorism and distributing illegal drugs. Mohammed, who had been extradited from Afghanistan, was convicted by a jury in May of plotting a rocket attack on U.S. military forces and Afghan civilians at Jalalabad Airfield.Khan Mohammed convicted of plotting rocket attack, selling heroinMohammed the first convicted under law increasing penalties for "narco-terrorists"Citing his family, Mohammed cries and pleads with judge to have mercyJudge says Mohammed had "undiluted hatred for the United States"
"Afghanistan is ground zero for opium, and an almost limitless source of funds to the _," he argued.