Virginia couple sued by Afghan refugees of crazy scheme to kidnap their baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Afghan couple (who the husband claims is the child's first cousin) has consistently refused to undergo DNA testing.

An investigative reporter went to Afghanistan and villagers said a foreign terrorist group who were light skinned set up camp in the village. The child who was orphaned had light hair and light-colored eyes, which is often consistent with families from regions like Chechnya or Uzbekista (common origins for foreign Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan) rather than the local ethnic groups in that specific Afghan province that does not look like the child. If she were orphaned in another part of Afghanistan then it might be more plausible but in that area there aren't blond kids.

It was only months later this relative came forward who refuses to have DNA testing done.

Now add to that the orphan girl has FOUR FULL biological siblings in TEXAS. They ALL refuse to have DNA testing done and not one of them look like the orphan girl with light features.

My understanding is life is very, very tough for Afghan women who don't have the privilege of a protective and loving family. Very, very hard, to say the least. It's hard anywhere in the world. In a male-dominated, harsh desert war torn country, a little orphaned girl is in serious jeopardy of ending up in a very bad situation.

What I read on the case is that a man stepped forward when the orphaned girl was released from the military hospital, claiming to be her uncle. With the chaos of war, nobody to confirm nor refute his claims. The child was turned over to him. He then gave the child to his son. His son and his son's wife are the Afghan couple who are now fighting the American couple for custody of the child. They refuse to submit themselves to a DNA test to confirm they are related.

Why would they refuse DNA testing, if it can prove they are cousins? The obvious explanation is they are not related at all. As someone else pointed out, there is a chance this child is not even of Afghan parentage.

I'm on the side of whatever is safest for this child. Who can give her happiness as a child, and give her the security to grow up to be a thriving, strong woman? She's going to need all the strength she can get, what with her background and her likely return to Afghanistan as an adult in a quest to figure out who her family is. If they turn out to be terrible people, she can leave and return to the U.S. If she finds her family and they welcome her, good for her.

If the "cousins" end up taking the DNA test to confirm they are her family, that's another story. They should be given priority as her next of kin.

It doesn't matter if the Afghan couple are related by blood or if the child has blonde hair. What the Masts did was unbelievably horrific and is child trafficking 101. It is disgusting. An American doesn't get to just go to another country, and steal a baby because America is better (and I love our country). WTAF?!

Yeah probably better to let her stay in Afghanistan so she could be married at 12.

Better to be living with people whose work killed her parents and four siblings. Right?

Actually yes. She’ll go to school. She’ll have food and shelter and she’ll have choices.

She belongs wiht her family, not kidnappers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Afghan couple (who the husband claims is the child's first cousin) has consistently refused to undergo DNA testing.

An investigative reporter went to Afghanistan and villagers said a foreign terrorist group who were light skinned set up camp in the village. The child who was orphaned had light hair and light-colored eyes, which is often consistent with families from regions like Chechnya or Uzbekista (common origins for foreign Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan) rather than the local ethnic groups in that specific Afghan province that does not look like the child. If she were orphaned in another part of Afghanistan then it might be more plausible but in that area there aren't blond kids.

It was only months later this relative came forward who refuses to have DNA testing done.

Now add to that the orphan girl has FOUR FULL biological siblings in TEXAS. They ALL refuse to have DNA testing done and not one of them look like the orphan girl with light features.

My understanding is life is very, very tough for Afghan women who don't have the privilege of a protective and loving family. Very, very hard, to say the least. It's hard anywhere in the world. In a male-dominated, harsh desert war torn country, a little orphaned girl is in serious jeopardy of ending up in a very bad situation.

What I read on the case is that a man stepped forward when the orphaned girl was released from the military hospital, claiming to be her uncle. With the chaos of war, nobody to confirm nor refute his claims. The child was turned over to him. He then gave the child to his son. His son and his son's wife are the Afghan couple who are now fighting the American couple for custody of the child. They refuse to submit themselves to a DNA test to confirm they are related.

Why would they refuse DNA testing, if it can prove they are cousins? The obvious explanation is they are not related at all. As someone else pointed out, there is a chance this child is not even of Afghan parentage.

I'm on the side of whatever is safest for this child. Who can give her happiness as a child, and give her the security to grow up to be a thriving, strong woman? She's going to need all the strength she can get, what with her background and her likely return to Afghanistan as an adult in a quest to figure out who her family is. If they turn out to be terrible people, she can leave and return to the U.S. If she finds her family and they welcome her, good for her.

If the "cousins" end up taking the DNA test to confirm they are her family, that's another story. They should be given priority as her next of kin.

It doesn't matter if the Afghan couple are related by blood or if the child has blonde hair. What the Masts did was unbelievably horrific and is child trafficking 101. It is disgusting. An American doesn't get to just go to another country, and steal a baby because America is better (and I love our country). WTAF?!

Yeah probably better to let her stay in Afghanistan so she could be married at 12.

Better to be living with people whose work killed her parents and four siblings. Right?

Actually yes. She’ll go to school. She’ll have food and shelter and she’ll have choices.

They have food and shelter and school in Texas.

[Anonymous]

The people who keep comparing Afghanistan to VA are missing the point.

If this was about helping the child, then they would have brought her and her family here and helped them build a life together. To rip a child away from the people raising her and then claim that can’t be undone because ripping a child from the people raising her is traumatic is the height of hypocrisy. To claim that they should have to be DNA tested when they also don’t have a genetic relationship is hypocrisy. Either governments have the right to decide who children who don’t have living parents live with or they don’t. Either Afghanistan’s decision was valid or VA’s wasn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article gives a whole run down of the case. From the article it looks like the afghan parents reside in Texas.

https://abc7chicago.com/amp/post/us-government-worked-let-marine-joshua-mast-adopt-afghan-war-orphan-documents-obtained-ap-show/18552708/

According to this article, the child is now 6 and will turn 7 in July. The adoption has been voided by a second judge and case is now in the VA supreme court.

At this point it would be bad fort the kid if she was removed from the only family she has now come to call her own and handed over to the Afghan couple. I feel sorry for the child and this guy Mast played the system.


"With Moore's retirement, the Masts and the Afghans found themselves before a new judge, Claude Worrell.

Worrell rebuked the federal government for its "inconsistent" approach, noting it was arguing the baby should be immediately returned to the Afghans, while its own employees had repeatedly assisted the Masts along the way.

It did not take Worrell long to come to a wholly different conclusion than Moore. Worrell wasn't concerned about biological relationships. What mattered, he said, was Afghanistan claimed her as its citizen, so got to decide her fate.

In March 2023, Worrell voided the adoption.

The Afghan couple went outside to a patch of grass in the parking lot and prayed. They thought they would soon bring the baby to their home in Texas, where they've kept a bedroom ready for her, decorated with butterfly decals.

The Virginia Court of Appeals has since upheld Worrell's decision voiding the adoption, and the case went before the Virginia Supreme Court in February 2025. It has yet to issue a ruling. As the years dragged on, the child remained with the Marine and his family.

The Marine Corps held an administrative hearing in October 2024 to determine whether Mast violated military rules. A three-member panel found that he acted in a way that was "unbecoming" of an officer, but that didn't warrant suspension or other formal punishment.

The federal government has indicated in court in recent months that it is reconsidering its role in the case, and Trump's second administration could reverse his first administration's opinion that Mast had no right to the child. The Justice Department did not respond to repeated requests to clarify its current position on the child's fate.

It has been four years since the Afghan couple has seen her.

In July, she turned 6."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article gives a whole run down of the case. From the article it looks like the afghan parents reside in Texas.

https://abc7chicago.com/amp/post/us-government-worked-let-marine-joshua-mast-adopt-afghan-war-orphan-documents-obtained-ap-show/18552708/

According to this article, the child is now 6 and will turn 7 in July. The adoption has been voided by a second judge and case is now in the VA supreme court.

At this point it would be bad for the kid if she was removed from the only family she has now come to call her own and handed over to the Afghan couple. I feel sorry for the child and this guy Mast played the system.


"With Moore's retirement, the Masts and the Afghans found themselves before a new judge, Claude Worrell.

Worrell rebuked the federal government for its "inconsistent" approach, noting it was arguing the baby should be immediately returned to the Afghans, while its own employees had repeatedly assisted the Masts along the way.

It did not take Worrell long to come to a wholly different conclusion than Moore. Worrell wasn't concerned about biological relationships. What mattered, he said, was Afghanistan claimed her as its citizen, so got to decide her fate.

In March 2023, Worrell voided the adoption.

The Afghan couple went outside to a patch of grass in the parking lot and prayed. They thought they would soon bring the baby to their home in Texas, where they've kept a bedroom ready for her, decorated with butterfly decals.

The Virginia Court of Appeals has since upheld Worrell's decision voiding the adoption, and the case went before the Virginia Supreme Court in February 2025. It has yet to issue a ruling. As the years dragged on, the child remained with the Marine and his family.

The Marine Corps held an administrative hearing in October 2024 to determine whether Mast violated military rules. A three-member panel found that he acted in a way that was "unbecoming" of an officer, but that didn't warrant suspension or other formal punishment.

The federal government has indicated in court in recent months that it is reconsidering its role in the case, and Trump's second administration could reverse his first administration's opinion that Mast had no right to the child. The Justice Department did not respond to repeated requests to clarify its current position on the child's fate.

It has been four years since the Afghan couple has seen her.

In July, she turned 6."

The Masts stole her and then dragged this out until that would be the inevitable outcome.

[Anonymous]

These people are the opposite of Christian. I hope they rot in hell. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Are there any efforts to disbar Joshua Mast? Looks like he's a Marine Corps Major and a JAG who lied repeatedly to a Virginia judge.

[Anonymous]

She’s not going back.

[Anonymous]

If the baby had family in the US then they should have had the right to adopt her. But letting her go back to that hellhole of a country would be a travesty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the baby had family in the US then they should have had the right to adopt her. But letting her go back to that hellhole of a country would be a travesty.

The baby has family in the US. Her family lives in Texas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the baby had family in the US then they should have had the right to adopt her. But letting her go back to that hellhole of a country would be a travesty.

So if Canadians or Europeans want to steal an American baby from America because they want to save the American baby from a lifetime of school shootings and poor health care, international law should allow that?

Joshua Mast, a lawyer for the Marines, is opening American parents up to that threat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the baby had family in the US then they should have had the right to adopt her. But letting her go back to that hellhole of a country would be a travesty.

It’s her country regardless of what we think. She deserves to be with her family raised in her culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the baby had family in the US then they should have had the right to adopt her. But letting her go back to that hellhole of a country would be a travesty.

So if Canadians or Europeans want to steal an American baby from America because they want to save the American baby from a lifetime of school shootings and poor health care, international law should allow that?

Joshua Mast, a lawyer for the Marines, is opening American parents up to that threat.

Us citizens do to it us citizens all the time. Get out of your bubble.

[Anonymous]

The Afghan baby will probably end up like this poor Iranian woman who was adopted from an Iranian orphanage as a child by a US serviceman. Raised as an American and a Christian.

Now the government wants to deport her to Iran for “overstaying her visa as a 4 year old!”.

https://apnews.com/articl...392ab73211

[Anonymous]

Christian nationalism is so scary. I really have to work to not have knee jerk negative reactions to all public displays of religion.