30 U.S. states urge Supreme Court review of ruling blocking access to Afghan central bank assets
Iowa and 29 other U.S. states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling that blocked the families of Sept. 11 victims from accessing $3.5 billion in frozen assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, the states argued that a law passed by Congress allows frozen assets of a party responsible for terrorist acts to be used to enforce court judgments in favor of victims.
Families of Sept. 11 victims have won a total of about $17 billion in damages from the Taliban administration in several cases in the U.S. judicial system and have sought to enforce those judgments through frozen assets.
Brenna Bird, Iowa’s attorney general, said victims and their families have pursued compensation and justice through the U.S. courts and should be able to collect the money that courts have awarded them.
After the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the United States froze about $3.5 billion in reserves belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank. Families that had won judgments against the Taliban administration sought to use those assets to enforce their rulings.
In February 2023, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the families of Sept. 11 victims could not access the $3.5 billion to enforce their judgments. According to the judge, Afghanistan’s central bank enjoys sovereign immunity and the court does not have the authority to allow the transfer of those assets.
The case then moved to higher courts, and a petition for review is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
