Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
- The families of 9/11 victims are blocked from seizing $3.5B in frozen Afghan central bank funds.
- A federal judge ruled that seizing the funds would mean recognizing the Taliban as legitimate rulers.
- It is up to President Joe Biden, not the courts, to make that decision, the judge ruled.
Efforts by the victims of 9/11 to seize $3.5 billion in frozen assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank have failed because President Joe Biden's administration doesn't recognize the Taliban as the country's legitimate government.
A federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that seizure of the assets to pay off judgment debts would be blocked because federal courts lack the legal jurisdiction to approve the turnover of funds.
Doing so would amount to recognizing the Taliban as the nation's legitimate government, Judge George Daniels said in his 30-page ruling, published by The New York Times, something only the government is able to do.
The US does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers.
The group were removed from power by a US-led military coalition in 2001, but seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 after Western troops withdrew.
A group of families of 9/11 victims had previously sued the Taliban for their losses, winning a default judgment when the militant group did not turn up to court.
Daniels said that he was "constitutionally restrained" from providing access to the funds, even though judgment creditors are entitled to collect.
Last February, Biden cleared a legal path for relatives to pursue the $3.5 billion held in Afghanistan's central bank to pay off the judgment debts. An executive order moved to freeze $7 billion of the central bank's assets, earmarking half to go toward helping Afghan people, and the other half to the 9/11 families.
But because of the new ruling, which cites federal and constitutional law, the Taliban cannot be said to control the money in the central bank without being officially recognized as representing 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," Daniels said.
He added that neither the Taliban nor judgment creditors are "entitled to raid the coffers of the state of Afghanistan to pay the Taliban's debts."
The ruling is a disappointment for the families, said Lee Wolosky, a lawyer who argued for the victims' compensation, according to BBC News.
"This decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban," he said. "We believe it is wrongly decided and will appeal."