State Department Needn’t Return Property After Taliban Takeover

The US State Department wasn’t required to return physical control of four residential properties in Kabul, Afghanistan, to the lessor following the US withdrawal and Taliban takeover in 2021, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals said Wednesday.

Nothing in the plain text of the leases placed a turnover requirement on the department, Board Judge Marian E. Sullivan said.

A lease provision specifically relieved the department of responsibility for damages caused by third parties not under the department’s control, the board said.

But the lessor, Abdul Mutakaber, can recover rent due under terminations for convenience the department issued in September 2021, ...