A U.S. Marine Abducted an Afghan Child
Baby Doe is an Afghan child. Her immediate family were killed in a U.S. raid in Afghanistan. Following international legal norms and involvement from agencies including the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, she was placed in the care of relatives. They remain in a legal battle for custody of their child because the Masts, a U.S. marine family, utilized Virginia state courts to obtain adoption documents.
Background and Timeline
2019
In September 2019, when Baby Doe was just two months old, her parents and 5 siblings were killed in a U.S. raid. While the government alleges otherwise, attorneys for the Does and Baby Doe’s family in the U.S., state that Baby Doe’s parents were farmers, unaffiliated with any terrorist groups.
Human Rights Watch has investigated U.S. night raids in Afghanistan throughout the last 20 years and “found that many were based on faulty intelligence or false presumptions.” In a 2019 investigation of 14 U.S. night raids, Human Rights Watch found that, “in none of the cases…did the civilians who were killed offer resistance or act in any way that justified the use of force.”
Marine Corps Major Joshua Mast heard about Baby Doe’s situation, and began to misuse his position to circumvent countless agency policies, U.S. and international norms, and foreign policy interests in his effort to forge an adoption of Baby Doe.
The Mast family appeals to government officials, who enable them in their efforts to abduct Baby Doe. From what has been made public through investigative reports, we know that the Masts met with Congressional and Senate officials, including Senator Ted Cruz.
Mast is assisted in Fluvanna County Court in Virginia by his brother, Richard Mast, an attorney with Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal-aid group affiliated with Liberty University.
Per The New York Times, “Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff, wrote to Richard Mast (Joshua Mast’s brother), ‘I’m praying for your success.’ In his emails to Mulvaney, Mast requested that the president order the baby to be ‘evacuated immediately to the United States.’”
With his contacts in the Trump administration and senior officials, Mast attempted to prevent Baby Doe from being released to the former Afghan government, knowing she would be placed with her relatives.
Despite Mast’s efforts to prevent the reunion, the former Afghan government together with the International Red Cross, placed Baby Doe with her biological relatives, who became her parents. They prioritized the considerations of the child’s best interests, which would always be to place a child in the care of her loving close family that share her culture, language, and faith.
August 2021
By this time, Baby Doe had been living with her Afghan family for eighteen months, being raised as the beloved first child of her guardians.
However, as the Taliban took over the Afghan government, Mast used the chaos of the U.S. evacuation, his power as an employee of the U.S. Department of Defense, and his illegitimate adoption (including a dubiously procured passport for Baby Doe) to capture her from her family when they arrived to Fort Pickett, Virginia.
October – November 2022
Baby Doe’s story becomes public, following reporting from AP News and The New York Times Magazine.
Afghans in diaspora, veterans, children’s rights advocates, adoptee advocates, collectively become outraged for Baby Doe and her family. Baby Doe’s kidnapping is an extension of the harm caused by decades of U.S. foreign policy and occupation in Afghanistan, down to the raid that killed her parents and siblings.
The adoption is also reflective of a history of U.S. government-backed family separation, that is as old as the U.S. itself, from the enslavement and separation of Black families, separation of indigenous families, Japanese internment, to more recent immigration policies.
January 2023
The Masts continue to willfully ignore every child welfare norm in favor of speaking publicly about their abduction of Baby Doe. Joshua Mast also acts in a manner that could amount to a misuse of his government position, and a violation of the rules that apply to such officials.
March 2023
As reported by AP News, a Virginia judge voided the Masts’ adoption of Baby Doe. It is important to note that it is extremely uncommon for a court to make this kind of decision. This serves as a testament to how the adoption should never have been authorized in the first place.
Summer 2023
Despite the Court’s order, the Masts have not returned Baby Doe to her family. They continue to speak publicly about the case, feed lies through right-wing media, and perpetuate their harm to Baby Doe.
The Masts have been explicit that they are being driven by their right-wing Christian values. They have stripped Baby Doe of the ability to bond with her baby sibling and her parents. They are taking away the opportunity for her to flourish in their care, while being surrounded by her language, Afghan culture, and Muslim faith.
Our action campaign resulted in over 7,000 letters and counting sent to members of congress demanding action for Baby Doe.
2026
As of spring 2026, the Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the Mast’s adoption. Federal proceedings remain underway. Dissenting justices issued wrote scathing remarks, calling out the Masts for misleading the court and describes the proceedings as “wrong”, “cancerous”.
Afghan, Immigration, Faith-Based, and Veterans Advocates Called for An Investigation and over 7,000 individuals have sent letters
We continue to demand investigation and accountability, and encourage you to take action with us.
Baby Doe’s story sheds a light on the abuses and racism in the international adoption system, particularly at the intersection with U.S. militarism.
