Sept 11, embassy bombing victims cannot seize Afghan bank assets, US appeals court rules

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FILE PHOTO: An NYPD officer stands guard before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 6, 2024. REUTERS/Adam Gray/File Photo

NEW YORK - Victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the August 7, 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa cannot seize $3.5 billion of Afghanistan central bank assets to address the Talibans role in the attacks, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) was shielded under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) from having to give up assets blocked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, because it qualified as an agency or instrumentality of Afghanistan.

Attack victims also failed to show DAB was liable as a Taliban agency or instrumentality under the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, though that law abrogated immunity that DAB had under the FSIA.

Thursdays 2-1 decision is a defeat for several groups of victims that sued many defendants including al-Qaeda over the attacks, and sought half of the $7 billion of DAB funds that U.S. President Joe Biden froze in August 2021.

Some victims sought to attach the assets, while others obtained default judgments after the defendants failed to show up in court.

Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes said that as of August 15, 2021, the day Kabul fell and the assets were blocked, there was no evidence DAB was aiding or controlled by the Taliban. Only