A war orphan is claimed by two families: her Afghan relatives and a U.S. Marine who adopted her from 7,000 miles away. An Associated Press investigation pieces together the story of the child, as a judge in a tiny Virginia town decides who gets to keep her.
They were surprised when Mast presented an Afghan passport for the child, the couple said. But it was the last name printed on the document that stopped them cold: Mast.
The baby had been pulled from the rubble after her parents and five siblings were killed during a U.S. military raid. That was only the beginning of her ordeal.
An Afghan couple who arrived in the U.S. as refugees are suing a U.S. Marine and his wife for allegedly abducting their baby. The baby was injured in a U.S.
After months in a U.S. military hospital, she had gone to live with her cousin and his wife, this newlywed couple. Now, the family was bound for the United States for further medical treatment, with the aid of U.S. Marine Corps attorney Joshua Mast. When the exhausted Afghans arrived at the airport in Washington D.C. in late August 2021, Mast pulled them out of the international arrivals line and led them to an inspecting officer, according to a lawsuit they filed last month.