Court ruling: 9/11 victims do not have the right to seize Afghan bank assets
A court in the United States has ruled that victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks do not have the right to seize billions of dollars in assets from Afghanistan’s central bank to fulfill judgments obtained in court against the Taliban.
George Daniels, a judge of the federal district court in Manhattan, New York, stated that he cannot rule, based on the constitution, that the Taliban was the legitimate government of Afghanistan. This was a condition for seizing assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank.
According to Reuters, this decision is a setback for four groups of creditors who had pursued legal action against al-Qaeda as responsible for the 9/11 attacks. After these groups failed to appear in court, default judgments were issued against them.
Reuters reports that Judge Daniels also adopted the findings of Judge Sarah Netburn, who last August recommended that the creditors cannot claim their debts from the assets of Afghanistan’s central bank.