The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan – and resulting fall off of the country’s already dire humanitarian situation – has kicked off a debate about what to do with billions of dollars of frozen Afghan government assets held abroad, predominantly in the United States.
Following the takeover, a group of families of about 150 US victims of the September 11 attacks entered the arena, saying they were owed about $7bn in frozen assets held by the Federal Reserve of New York. They were awarded the sum by a federal judge in 2012 following a default judgement against an array of defendants – including the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and Iran – who never showed up in court.
