Supreme Court Won't Hear Afghan Adoption Dispute Case

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear an appeal in a contentious adoption case concerning an Afghan child who was orphaned during a U.S. Army raid. The child's relatives had appealed to the high court after a U.S. Marine, who aided in their evacuation from Afghanistan, took custody of the girl despite the State Department's efforts to reunite her with her Afghan family.

The case gained national attention in 2022 following an Associated Press report, drawing notice from government officials in both Afghanistan and the United States.

The child's parents were killed in September 2019 during a raid on a rural compound carried out by U.S. Army Rangers and Afghan forces. The infant was discovered in the rubble and subsequently hospitalized at Bagram Air Base near Kabul. It was there that military lawyer Joshua Mast and his wife decided to adopt her.

However, during the administration of then-President Donald Trump, the State Department worked with the Afghan government to locate surviving relatives, who were identified as a cousin and his wife. This Afghan couple raised the child for 18 months.

Meanwhile, the Masts secured a final adoption order from a Virginia court without informing the Afghan relatives. The Masts have maintained that their actions were motivated by a desire to save the child and provide her with a loving home. In 2021, Joshua Mast assisted the family in departing Afghanistan during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal.

Once in the United States, Mast took custody of the child at a refugee resettlement center, overriding the objections of her relatives. The Afghan couple initiated legal proceedings, seeking to overturn the adoption, which they argued was fundamentally flawed from its inception.

Lower courts in Virginia initially sided with the Afghan couple. However, the Virginia Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Masts, citing a six-month deadline stipulated in state law. The Masts' appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was supported by a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, as well as organizations advocating for veterans and international adoptees.

The Masts dispute the alleged kinship of the Afghan relatives and contend that reopening the adoption would cause significant disruption to the girl, who is now 7 years old and has been living with their family for several years. The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case leaves the Virginia Supreme Court's ruling in place.