On February 11, 2022 President Biden issued an executive order that will allocate half of the Afghanistan assets frozen in U.S. Bank accounts (a total of $7 billion) to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.  These victims have asserted claims and received judgments against those who sponsor terrorism including the State-Sponsored terrorism by Afghanistan in a process that has taken 20 years to unfold.  The other $3.5 billion will be used to directly benefit the Afghan people.  The efforts of Baltimore law firm Azrael, Franz, Schwab, Lipowitz & Solter continue to resonate throughout this litigation that has been playing out in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.

Our clients welcome this important news by President Biden and await further guidance from the Department of Justice which is expected to issue a Statement of Interest that will detail the process to be used to complete the transfer of these assets to the Court which is expected to oversee the distribution of the funds.  This effort has been ongoing through our work in Congress and with the President to address the then Afghanistan government funding of the terrorist activities of 2001.  Efforts to freeze the Afghan assets in U.S. Banks were completed after the seizure of Afghan government functions by the Taliban in August, 2021.

AFSLS is pleased with the specifics of this Presidential Executive Order, the path of litigation that has led us to this point and the gratitude of the victims of 9/11 who see this as an important step in providing accountability for the State-Sponsored terrorism that took the lives of their loved ones.