A federal judge in New York has ruled that 9/11 families cannot claim $3.5 billion from the central bank of Afghanistan as compensation. Judge George Daniels said “neither the Taliban nor the [plaintiffs] are entitled to raid the coffers of the state of Afghanistan to pay the Taliban’s debts.” The money was part of $7 billion of Afghan funds that were deposited in the New York Federal Reserve and frozen by President Biden after the Taliban takeover in 2021. He subsequently allocated half of that money to aid efforts in Afghanistan, as Afghans and rights groups fought to return all the funds to the Afghan people amid an ongoing humanitarian disaster.
