Prosecutors and defense lawyers made their closing arguments Monday in the trial of Ali Asad Chandia, 29, who is charged with providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, an organization that supports Muslim control of the Kashmir territory on the India-Pakistan border. The US government declared Lashkar a terrorist organization in December 2001.

Prosecutors have said that Lashkar served as a potential gateway for Americans and others who wanted to join the Taleban in neighboring Afghanistan in its fight against US troops in late 2001.

The charges against Chandia stem from a government investigation of what prosecutors called a “Virginia jihad network,” a group of young Muslim men who used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as paramilitary training for holy war around the globe. Ten people have been convicted in that investigation, including the group’s spiritual leader, Ali al-Timimi, who was sentenced to life in prison for soliciting treason and urging group members to fight US troops in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors do not allege that Chandia intended to take up arms against US troops, but they do say he received jihad training at a Lashkar camp in late 2001. Then, after returning to the US in 2002, they say he helped Lashkar by assisting one of its officers, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, in his US travels.

Specifically, Chandia served as a driver for Khan and picked him up at various airports. He also helped Khan obtain and ship equipment from the United States to Pakistan, including a remote-controlled aircraft and 50,000 paintballs, according to the government.

Prosecutor John Gibbs said the defense sought to portray Khan as an eccentric, largely innocuous character.

“He is not cute. He is a terrorist,” Gibbs said of Khan, who was convicted in Great Britain of supporting Lashkar and sentenced earlier this year to nine years in prison.

Defense attorney Marvin Miller said prosecutors had no evidence that Chandia attended a Lashkar camp, only testimony from a witness who reported seeing Chandia at a Lashkar office in Lahore. Miller said Chandia traveled to Pakistan to help arrange his brother’s wedding there in January 2002.

Miller argued that Chandia did not know of Khan’s connections to Lashkar. Chandia only agreed to help Khan because he was asked to by a friend, Masoud Khan of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Masoud Khan is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the Virginia jihad group.

Prosecutor David Laufman responded by putting a sinister-looking picture of Khan in front of the jury, and ridiculing the idea that Chandia had been an unwitting dupe.

The jury began its deliberations Monday afternoon.