An Afghan couple who arrived in the United States as refugees are suing a marine and his wife for allegedly abducting their baby.
The newly-wed couple were saved from Kabul and taken to Washington by the marine, Joshua Mast, during the chaotic withdrawal of US troops last year.
The baby girl had been rescued two years earlier from the rubble of a US Special Forces raid that killed her parents and five siblings, and had gone to live with the couple – her cousin and his wife – after spending months in a US military hospital.
When they arrived in the US in late August 2021, Mr Mast pulled them out of the international arrivals line and led them to an inspecting officer, according to a lawsuit they filed last month.
They were surprised when Mast presented an Afghan passport for the child, the couple said, and they noticed her last name had been changed to Mast.
Unknown to the family, according to documents filed with the court, the marine and his wife, Stephanie, had adopted the child in a Virginia court, 7,000 miles away.
The couple say that Mr Mast, after brandishing custody papers, took the baby from the couple five days after they arrived in the US. They haven’t seen the youngster since.
Afghanistan: Suicide bomb blast kills at least 19 in Kabul exam centre
Afghanistan one year on: Life for women under the Taliban
Afghanistan: Inside beauty salon as country lives under strict Taliban rule
“After they took her, our tears never stop,” the Afghan woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Associated Press.
“Right now, we are just dead bodies. Our hearts are broken. We have no plans for a future without her. Food has no taste, and sleep gives us no rest.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘We acted admirably’
In a federal lawsuit filed in September, the Afghan family accused the Masts of false imprisonment, conspiracy, fraud and assault.
Mr Mast has claimed he and his wife are the legal parents of the young girl, who is now three and a half years old, and they “acted admirably” to save her.
Read more:
Life as a woman in Taliban’s Afghanistan
‘My life is hell – why won’t the UK help us?’
They escaped Afghanistan – what next?
“Joshua and Stephanie Mast have done nothing but ensure she receives the medical care she requires, at great personal expense and sacrifice, and provide her a loving home,” wrote the Masts’ lawyers.
The Masts have also called the Afghan family’s claims “outrageous, unmerited attacks” on their integrity, and have argued in the court filings that they have worked “to protect the child from physical, mental or emotional harm”.
They have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
The ordeal has drawn in several US government departments, which have argued the alleged incident could significantly harm military and foreign relations.
