Editorial | Biden’s Afghan-funds order puts the interests of lawyers over US terror victims – By Post Editorial Board (New York Post) / May 14, 2022
President Joe Biden can’t touch anything without having it turn to disaster, and that, alas, is the case with billions in previously frozen Afghan funds meant to compensate terror victims and their loved ones.
In a February executive order, Biden effectively confiscated $7 billion of those funds, which had been sitting in US banks, and directed half for Aghan humanitarian aid and half for US victims of terror. Critics question his right to such action, yet surely the Taliban’s role in 9/11 and the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa justify any move to keep the money out of their hands.
Trouble is, Biden’s order limits the pool of terror victims who’d benefit from their $3.5 billion half to only those who already had claims on the cash — about 150 people (and possibly some insurance companies that promise to distribute funds to other victims). That leaves out thousands of others who suffered in the 9/11 and other attacks, rewarding only those who managed to get to the courthouse early.
