Judge Rules 9-11 Victims Can’t Seize $3.5 Billion in Afghan Central Bank Assets in US

Families of victims of the 9-11 attacks in 2001 cannot seize $3.5 billion in Afghanistan central bank assets, even though they won a judgment for $7 billion in damages a decade ago. The judgement issued by US District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan comes a year after US President Joe Biden issued an executive order that holding on to $7 billion in American-based assets owned by Afghanistan’s Central Bank in order to prevent the Taliban from taking the money.  The judge said that allowing the victims to seize the assets would amount to a ruling that the Taliban are Afghanistan’s legitimate government, and that the court cannot do so since the Biden administration does not recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. “The Taliban – not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Afghan people – must pay for the Taliban’s liability in the 9/11 attacks,” the judge said in his decision, Reuters reported.  Four creditor groups representing 10,000 family members of 9-11 victims had filed a lawsuit seeking to seize the money. The Taliban took over Afghanistan and announced the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at the end of August 2021, when the last US and other foreign troops left the country.