Supreme Court Declines Afghan War Orphan Custody Appeal

The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal on Monday regarding the disputed adoption of an Afghan girl orphaned during a 2019 U.S. Army raid. The decision ensures that Joshua Mast, a U.S. Marine Corps attorney, and his wife, Stephanie, retain custody of the child, now 7 years old.

The child was orphaned after U.S. Army Rangers and Afghan forces killed her parents during a military operation. While the child was previously reunited with a cousin and his wife in Afghanistan for 18 months, the Masts obtained a final adoption order from a Virginia court without notifying those relatives. In 2021, after Joshua Mast helped the relatives evacuate to the U.S., he took custody of the girl at a refugee resettlement center over the relatives' objections.

The legal battle progressed through Virginia's court system. The Court of Appeals of Virginia initially voided the adoption, agreeing with relatives that the Masts misrepresented facts to the court by claiming the child was stateless. However, the Supreme Court of Virginia reversed this decision, ruling that final adoption orders cannot be challenged after a six-month legal deadline. The Afghan relatives described the adoption as an "egregious miscarriage of justice," while the Masts argued that reopening the case would cause significant disruption to the child's life.