August 27, New York – Yesterday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling that $3.5 billion in blocked Afghan assets cannot be used to satisfy 9/11 judgments and other cases against the Taliban. The ruling is a victory for Afghan and Afghan-American organizations, which argued that the money belongs to the people of Afghanistan and should be used to alleviate the humanitarian crisis there, not pay off the Taliban’s debts.

“This court’s decision is good news amidst a devastating humanitarian and human rights situation for the people of Afghanistan. While victims of 9/11, like all victims, are entitled to compensation, these assets belong to the Afghan state,” said Shaharzad Akbar, human rights activist and Executive Director of Rawadari. 

At issue are the remainder of the $7.1 billion in the central bank of Afghanistan, which the Afghan government deposited in the New York Federal Reserve before the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. President Biden froze the funds and later took measures to facilitate access of half for humanitarian relief for the people of Afghanistan, with the remainder blocked. Multiple groups of 9/11 families and U.S. victims of a 2016 attack on private contractors in Afghanistan filed motions for those assets to be turned over for partial settlement of their judgments against the Taliban. 

The Afghan and Afghan-American organizations opposed the motions in an amicus brief filed on their behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights. The organizations – Transitional Justice Coordination Group, Rawadari, Women’s Forum on Afghanistan, Global Advocates for Afghanistan, Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources, the Afghan-American Community Organization, and Afghans for a Better Tomorrow – believe the 9/11 families and other plaintiffs should receive compensation. But allowing them to seize these sovereign funds would harm Afghans, not the Taliban, the organizations said. 

“This news is particularly welcome at a time when ordinary Afghans have been suffering loss of critical aid, violent deportations, and the loss of liberties,” said Laila Ayub, Attorney and Co-Director at Project ANAR. “Afghans deserve to live in dignity and prosperity, and we celebrate this decision with the hope that this is one more step toward these funds benefiting the Afghan people.”

Further, the organizations said, allowing the plaintiffs access to the sovereign funds would relieve the Taliban of both a significant debt and the punitive effect of the judgments. It would also grant the Taliban a level of official recognition – as owner of sovereign assets of Afghanistan held in the state’s central bank – that contravenes fundamental constitutional principles and U.S. foreign policy. Indeed, no country in the world recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The Court of Appeals agreed.

“The freezing of Afghanistan’s assets has had widespread and devastating impacts on all fronts, and catastrophically made the country’s people collateral,” said Sadaf Doost, former Bertha Justice fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the attorneys  representing the amici. “With this decision, we applaud the court for upholding justice and the rule of law for the people of Afghanistan, who have been forced into humanitarian peril for decades due to one man-made crisis after another.”

Advocates at the amici organizations have committed many years to documenting abuses against, and securing the rights of, Afghans. Some have carried out this work after being forced into exile; others face ongoing risk of persecution and death from the Taliban. They have a direct and deep interest in ensuring that the remaining $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s assets held in the United States are used to prevent further deterioration of the economic, humanitarian, and human rights situation for the Afghan people. 

For more information, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights case page.