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Sept. 11 victims cannot seize Afghan central bank assets: US judge

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A US judge decided on Tuesday that victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are not entitled to seize $3.5 billion of assets belonging to Afghanistan's central bank to satisfy court judgments they obtained against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Reuters reported.

US District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said he was "constitutionally restrained" from finding that the IEA was Afghanistan's legitimate government, a precursor for attaching assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB.

Daniels said letting victims seize those assets would amount to a ruling that the IEA are Afghanistan's legitimate government.

He said US courts lack power to reach that conclusion, noting that Biden administration does not recognize the IEA as Afghanistan's government, read the report.

"The judgment creditors are entitled to collect on their default judgments and be made whole for the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history, but they cannot do so with the funds of the central bank of Afghanistan," Daniels wrote.

"The Taliban [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] - not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Afghan people - must pay for the IEA's liability in the 9/11 attacks," he added.

Daniels' decision is a defeat for four groups of judgment creditors that claimed some of the $7 billion of DAB funds that had been frozen at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, Reuters reported.

"This decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban [IEA]," said Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for one creditor group known as the Havlish plaintiffs. "We believe it is wrongly decided and will appeal."

The other creditor groups are also planning an appeal, a separate Tuesday court filing shows, read the report.

In an executive order last February, US President Joe Biden ordered $3.5 billion of the DAB funds set aside to benefit the Afghan people.

Last September, the US Treasury said it would move that money to a Swiss-based trust beyond the IEA's reach.

NOT THE IEA'S MONEY

The creditor groups had sued many defendants, including al-Qaeda, over the Sept. 11 attacks, and obtained default judgments after the defendants failed to show up in court, Reuters reported.

At the time of the attacks, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) had allowed al-Qaeda to operate within Afghanistan.

The United States ousted the IEA and al-Qaeda in late 2001, but the IEA returned to power in 2021 when Western forces pulled out of the country.

In his 30-page decision, Daniels adopted findings of US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, who last August also recommended no recovery for the creditor groups.

Daniels said he lacked jurisdiction over DAB under federal law because the bank was an instrumentality of a foreign government and thus had immunity.

He also said Afghanistan, as opposed to the IEA, neither qualified as a "terrorist party" nor had been designated a state sponsor of terrorism, read the report.

"Neither the Taliban [IEA] nor the judgment creditors are entitled to raid the coffers of the state of Afghanistan to pay the Taliban's debts," Daniels wrote.

Other countries recently held about $2 billion of Afghan reserves, Reuters reported.

Nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, when planes were flown into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in northern Virginia, and a Pennsylvania field.

US sanctions ban doing financial business with the IEA but allow humanitarian support for the Afghan people.

The case is in re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 03-md-01570, Reuters reported.

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IEA hopes Trump govt will usher in new chapter between Kabul and Washington

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Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said late Wednesday in a statement that in the light of a balanced foreign policy, the ministry hopes that the future American government under newly elected president Donald Trump will take realistic steps to achieve its goals so that significant progress can be made in relations between Kabul and Washington.

Balkhi said it is hoped that both countries can open a new chapter of relations in light of mutual interaction.

He added that the Doha agreement between the Islamic Emirate and the United States was signed during the presidency of Donald Trump, and after that, the 20-year occupation ended in Afghanistan.

He stated IEA hopes that Trump may play a constructive role in ending the current war in the region and the world, especially in Gaza and Lebanon.

Donald Trump on Wednesday won the presidential election in the US after beating Kamala Harris.

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DABS owed 12 billion AFN by former government officials

At present, 950 megawatts of electricity is consumed annually in the country, of which just over 300 megawatts is produced domestically and the balance is imported from neighboring countries.

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Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country’s power utility company, said Wednesday that ex-officials of the former government and state institutions owe 12 billion afghanis (AFN) in unpaid electricity debt.

The head of DABS has warned the ex-officials that if they do not pay the electricity consumption fee, their houses and assets will be seized.

Last year, DABS announced that it had collected $681 million dollars in debt from former officials and commercial and industrial companies.

Head of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), Abdul Bari Omar, said Tuesday that the utility company pays for their imported power on the 27th and 28th of every month.

According to Omar, the company is up-to-date on its payments.

Last year, DABS's spokesperson said the company had settled debt totaling $627 million that had been carried over from the former government.

This money was paid to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran.

Omar stated that in the last three months, energy production projects worth $400 million have been put into operation and other projects are on the agenda.

According to him, these projects include wind, gas, coal and solar energy initiatives.

On the Kajaki dam in Helmand, he said the dam will be able to produce 150 megawatts of electricity within the next year.

While efforts are being made to increase electricity production, Afghans continue to struggle with little or no power.

At present, 950 megawatts of electricity is consumed annually in the country, of which just over 300 megawatts is produced domestically and the balance is imported from neighboring countries.

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Afghanistan poppy cultivation grows 19 percent despite ban: UN

Many farmers in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, were hit hard financially by the ban and have not been able to reap the same profits from alternative crops

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Opium cultivation rose by 19 percent in Afghanistan this year, the UN reported Wednesday, despite a ban by the Islamic Emirate that almost eradicated the crop.

According to a new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there are currently 12,800 hectares of poppies being cultivated in Afghanistan.

The 19 percent increase year-on-year remains far below the 232,000 hectares cultivated when the IEA’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned the crop in April 2022.

UNODC also stated that the center of poppy cultivation has shifted and is now concentrated in northeastern provinces instead of in the south.

The agency stated that following the poppy ban, prices soared for the resin from which opium and heroin are made.

During the first half of 2024, prices stabilized around $730 per kilogram, according to UNODC, compared to about $100 per kg before 2022.

For years Afghanistan was the world's biggest supplier of opium and heroin.

Many farmers in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, were hit hard financially by the ban and have not been able to reap the same profits from alternative crops.

Even legal crops are only a short-term solution, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), "so the focus should be on job creation in non-farm industries".

The UNODC and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called for international support for farmers to transition to alternative crops and livelihoods, something the IEA government has requested.

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