Judge Rules 9/11 Victims Cannot Seize Afghanistan Central Bank Funds.
A federal judge in New York has ruled that the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks cannot seize $3.5 billion in funds belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank.
The assets, held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, were frozen on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban entered Kabul and toppled the US-backed Afghan government.
US President Joe Biden later said the money could be made available to the families of 9/11 victims.
However, the judge ruled that the federal courts lack the jurisdiction to seize the funds from Afghanistan’s central bank.
A group of families, who previously sued the Taliban for their losses and won, has since moved to seize the funds to pay off the judgement debt.
But Judge George Daniels of the Southern District of New York said on Tuesday that “neither the Taliban nor the Judgment Creditors are entitled to raid the coffers of the state of Afghanistan to pay the Taliban’s debts.”
Daniels also said he was “constitutionally restrained” from awarding the assets to the families because it would effectively mean recognising the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, no nation has recognised them as Afghanistan’s government, including the United States.
Daniels’ ruling deals a blow to the families of the victims of 9/11, as well as insurance companies that made payments because of the attacks. More than 2,900 people died when four hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and a field in Pennsylvania.
Then-president George W Bush launched an invasion of Afghanistan in response, resulting in two decades of war between the US-backed government and the Taliban.
With the withdrawal of US and NATO troops in August 2021, the Taliban retook power. The country was almost entirely dependent on aid, and its economy teetered on the brink of collapse when Washington froze $7 billion in Afghan assets.
Biden revealed a plan in February 2022 to split the cash, with half directed as aid to Afghanistan and half going to families of victims of the 9/11 attacks.
However, it remains unclear what will happen to the $3.5 billion set aside for the families if their appeals fail
