Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumSecret records: Government says Marine's adoption of Afghan orphan seen as abduction, must be undone
Source: Associated Press
Secret records: Government says Marines adoption of Afghan orphan seen as abduction, must be undone
BY MARTHA MENDOZA, CLAIRE GALOFARO AND JULIET LINDERMAN
Updated 12:18 AM EDT, September 15, 2023
The U.S. government has warned a Virginia judge that allowing an American Marine to keep an Afghan war orphan risks violating international law and could be viewed around the world as endorsing an act of international child abduction, according to secret court records reviewed by The Associated Press.
It is rare for the federal government to step into a local custody case, but concern about the childs fate has stretched across the Trump and Biden administrations. The Justice Department argued in the court documents that the dispute has ramifications that extend far beyond the rural courthouse where the girls future is being decided.
Failing to return the child, now 4, to Afghan relatives in the U.S. could jeopardize American efforts to resettle Afghan refugees, threaten international security pacts and might be used as propaganda by Islamic extremists potentially endangering U.S soldiers overseas, Justice Department attorneys and other U.S. officials warned in court filings seeking to intervene in the case.
The Justice Department was particularly scathing in its assessment of how Marine Maj. Joshua Mast and his wife convinced a Virginia judge to sign off on the adoption of the girl, who has been in their custody since 2021.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghan-war-orphan-marine-baby-abduct-adoption-8a0411f16067d73ad0d86b706f5ae46d
mymomwasright
(298 posts)The Major certainly seems up to shennanigans!
marble falls
(57,104 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,122 posts)Giuliani didnt want to give him back to his father in Cuba.
mopinko
(70,127 posts)surely this violates their code of conduct.
intheflow
(28,476 posts)SpamWyzer
(385 posts)A girl child is better treated in Afghanistan or in the USA? I accept the treaty obligations, but IF a charity arranged the same as the major and his wife arranged, through ACCEPTED channels then the act of adoption, despite there being "family", would require proof of a secure and stable environment with all the rights of the child being paramount in the process. A better life. I think the written words in the treaties are getting in the way of the intentions behind the treaties. Judge is wrong. Major and his wife are right. They are doing the right thing and "right to family" is possible in step/foster and adoptive families. She will be given a better life in the USA. If she has family here that want her, then that should take precedence. But IF the only family she has plans on taking her back to Afghanistan, then that should be prohibited. There is no dignity or honor in sending someone to a wretched life when they are not guilty of anything.
mopinko
(70,127 posts)voluntary adoptions r hard enough. this is just kidnapping.
she belong w and to her family.