9/11 Victims Ask US Supreme Court to Review Access to $3.5B in Frozen Afghan Assets

DID Press: Families and estates of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks have asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review whether they can access about $3.5 billion in frozen assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, Afghanistan’s central bank, to satisfy court-awarded compensation from the Taliban.

The petition was filed on August 31 in Havlish v. Taliban. The plaintiffs are asking the justices to review an August 2025 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that blocked their effort to seize the funds. The Supreme Court docket shows that the petition was formally docketed on September 4, with a response due October 5, 2026.

The families argue under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) that blocked assets of a terrorist party, including assets of its agencies or instrumentalities, can be used to satisfy terrorism-related judgments. The Second Circuit, however, ruled that Da Afghanistan Bank did not qualify as an agency or instrumentality of the Taliban at the time the assets were frozen.

The families and estates involved in the Havlish case obtained a default liability judgment against the Taliban in December 2011. Court records put their outstanding compensatory damages at approximately $2.086 billion.

Following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the United States blocked roughly $7 billion in Da Afghanistan Bank reserves held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. About $3.5 billion was subsequently separated for the Afghan Fund, intended to benefit the Afghan people while remaining outside Taliban control. The remaining approximately $3.5 billion remains at the center of the litigation.

The Supreme Court has not yet agreed to hear the case. It will first consider whether to grant the petition. A decision on that question could determine whether the Second Circuit’s ruling stands and, ultimately, whether the disputed $3.5 billion can be used to satisfy terrorism-related judgments against the Taliban.