United States President Joe Biden has signed an executive order creating the possibility of splitting $7bn in frozen Afghan funds held in the US, potentially allotting half for humanitarian aid to the country while keeping the other half available for possible seizure by victims of the September 11 attacks.
The executive order signed on Friday said the administration “will seek to facilitate access to $3.5 billion” of the Afghan assets currently held by the Federal Reserve of New York “for the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future”.
However, it said the allocation of those funds would be “pending a judicial decision”. The White House also referenced legal claims by families of 9/11 victims who have said that they are entitled to the money following previous default rulings against the Taliban and other groups named in earlier lawsuits.
The Biden executive order said that even if the pending judgement allows $3.5bn to go to the people of Afghanistan, another $3.5bn would stay in the US and remain “subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism”.
