The Afghan government was tracking down relatives, a State Department official wrote, and found an uncle who reported that the girl’s father, a farmer, had been slain in the raid, along with his wife and five other children. government, being treated at a military hospital in Kabul.

government of Mast’s custody petition, the Justice Department argued.Īt the time, the baby was in the custody of the U.S. But the Virginia court failed to notify the U.S. Virginia law requires that whoever has physical custody of a child be given an opportunity to be heard in an adoption case. The child, however, was never “stateless,” the Afghan government did not relinquish its claim over her, and the orders “were obtained fraudulently by the Masts, who knowingly made false representations before the Virginia courts,” the Justice Department wrote. A year later, Moore, who has since retired, made the adoption permanent. Moore in 2019 that the child - 7,000 miles away - was the “stateless” daughter of foreign fighters from an unknown neighboring country, and that the Afghan government intended to waive jurisdiction over her. In arguing that the girl should be returned to her Afghan relatives, the Justice Department wrote that the Masts, who were living in Fluvanna County at the time, convinced their local circuit court judge Richard E. It is unclear how the Masts responded to the Justice Department’s court filings. Yet nine months later, the documents remain secret. The AP in January took legal action to unseal the case and a Virginia judge agreed to do so. The government filings reviewed by the AP represent just a fraction of the thousands of pages of documents, transcripts and exhibits that remain under seal, locked away with no word of when the public will be allowed to see them. Until now, the federal government’s role in the case has remained mostly a mystery. The Masts and the girl’s Afghan relatives, who are suing to get her back, have been ordered not to speak publicly about the case, and their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.īut in earlier court filings, Mast’s attorneys have written that the Marine and his wife acted in good faith and worked at “great personal expense and sacrifice” to protect the baby and “provide her a loving home.” military hospital and became determined to bring her home. Mast, who was on a short assignment as an attorney in Afghanistan, met the baby in a U.S. officials warned in court filings seeking to intervene in the case. could jeopardize American efforts to resettle Afghan refugees, threaten international security pacts and might be used as propaganda by Islamic extremists - potentially endangering U.S soldiers overseas, Justice Department attorneys and other U.S. The Justice Department argued in the court documents that the dispute has ramifications that extend far beyond the rural courthouse where the girl’s future is being decided.įailing to return the child, now 4, to Afghan relatives in the U.S. It is rare for the federal government to step into a local custody case, but concern about the child’s fate has stretched across the Trump and Biden administrations. government has warned a Virginia judge that allowing an American Marine to keep an Afghan war orphan risks violating international law and could be viewed around the world as “endorsing an act of international child abduction,” according to secret court records reviewed by The Associated Press. By MARTHA MENDOZA, CLAIRE GALOFARO and JULIET LINDERMAN (Associated Press)

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