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livus , (edited )
@livus@kbin.social avatar

could be seen as international child abduction.

"Could be"??? Having read the article and the linked article I can't imagine any metric by which this is anything other than an international child abduction.

He literally kidnapped her from the family members who were raising her.

Edit: and for anyone who had reservations about her going back to Afghanistan, that's not at issue here as her real family are now in the US as well.

asteroidnova ,
@asteroidnova@lemmy.ml avatar

“Could be” is journo speak for they don’t want to get sued. That’s why they use wishy-washy milquetoast language for everything.

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

Citing a litany of “falsehoods,” the Justice Department wrote that the court relied on “intentional misrepresentations” from the Marine and skipped critical safeguards to protect children being brought to the United States.

“The grave harm that the Masts have inflicted upon the Child, her family, and the United States is ongoing,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in the court documents, which included signed declarations from State and Defense department officials. “Most troublingly, the child remains with the Masts to this day.”

Mast, who was on a short assignment as an attorney in Afghanistan, met the baby in a U.S. military hospital and became determined to bring her home.

The Masts and the girl’s Afghan relatives, who are suing to get her back, have been ordered not to speak publicly about the case, and their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

They kidnapped the child. Full stop.

aard ,
@aard@kyu.de avatar

If you just read the headline - read the article. From the headline you could assume that it might be some grey area thing - but based on the article “could be seen as abduction” is a very friendly phrase to describe what has happened.

Arrakis ,

Jesus Christ.

They literally stole a fucking baby.

How the fuck is he not been imprisoned?

BirdyBoogleBop ,

Not just that he still has the child in his possesion! What the fuck!

Arrakis ,

'Murica!

Zippy ,

The question now becomes what is the best result for the baby?

Arrakis ,

Being raised by the blood family she already has who love and want her; or even just a family that doesn’t lie and break the law in order to get their own way, would presumably be a good start.

Phanatik , (edited )

They didn't just lie and break the law. Mast used his privilege as a weapon to make sure him and his wife could illegally adopt this baby from a couple who had lost everything short of their lives. They had nothing and this scumbag wanted more.

charlytune ,
@charlytune@mander.xyz avatar

He and his wife have also changed the little girl’s name to an American one. That’s a sure indication they intend to disconnect her from her heritage. If they keep her there’s a good chance she’d come to hate them as an adult if / when she finds out with they’ve done. Absolute psychopaths.

Aradina ,

Not being left with their abductor.

Hope that answers your question.

livus ,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

To go back to her real family, obviously.

Living with the kind of sociopath who steals children from their families and creates an extensive web of lies around it wouldn't be good for any child.

tallwookie , (edited )

per the article, her real family is dead - suicide bomber.

looks like my cursory inspection of the article was incorrect

livus ,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

@tallwookie no, I think you need to read it again.

  • her parents were killed in a US raid
  • she was placed with other family members who were raising her
  • a year and a half later this guy kidnapped her from them on the pretext of getting her more medical treatment
  • he then lied to the US courts about the whole thing

Excerpts from the article:

The Afghan government was tracking down relatives, a State Department official wrote, and found an uncle who reported that the girl’s father, a farmer, had been slain in the raid, along with his wife and five other children...

The Red Cross took her to the Afghan family, who wept when they met her, according to a State Department declaration attached to the court filings. A young newlywed couple, the child’s cousin and his wife, raised her for the next 18 months...

As the family grew and bonded, Mast tracked them down and tried to convince them to send the child to the United States by promising medical care, the Afghan family told AP last year. They said they refused to go along with the plan; they didn’t want to be separated from the girl, who appeared to have fully recovered from a fractured skull, broken leg and serious burns.

Later, in the summer of 2021, when U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took over, Mast reiterated his offer of assistance, “misleading” the couple into believing the child would receive specialized medical treatment, the Justice Department wrote. Mast helped arrange a Defense Department evacuation of the Afghan family by “falsely telling other military personnel that he was clear to bring the Child,” the Justice Department wrote.

livus ,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

He also appears to have lied about who the dead people were.

@tallwookie

stopthatgirl7 OP ,
@stopthatgirl7@kbin.social avatar

Her cousin is not, and that’s who she was taken from.

livus , (edited )
@livus@kbin.social avatar

They also submitted false documents they pretended were written by the Department of Defense. Surely that would normally warrant criminal charges.

yenahmik ,

I was not prepared for the deliberate manipulation that was done to get the child into his custody. I’d assumed she was already in his custody and there were people trying to get the custody from him. But no, she was in her biological family’s custody and he tricked them into handing her over. This is straight up evil.

Link to the rundown of what happened to get to this point

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

But in earlier court filings, Mast’s attorneys have written that the Marine and his wife acted in good faith and worked at “great personal expense and sacrifice” to protect the baby and “provide her a loving home.”

Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed a cable to the embassy in Kabul that described Mast’s custody order from Fluvanna County as “flawed in a number of respects,” and questioned how any American court could have jurisdiction over an Afghan child.

Later, in the summer of 2021, when U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took over, Mast reiterated his offer of assistance, “misleading” the couple into believing the child would receive specialized medical treatment, the Justice Department wrote.

When the Afghans arrived at a refugee resettlement camp in Virginia, the Justice Department wrote, Mast presented the adoption order to federal employees, who didn’t know that the U.S. government had already deemed his claim to the girl to be flawed.

Mast is assigned to the Marine Corps Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and the agency is fully cooperating with federal law enforcement investigations, according to a spokesperson.

In the meantime, the Biden administration argued in the filings that ongoing delays and “a narrative that a U.S. servicemember stole a Muslim child” are harming America’s standing on the world stage, particularly in Afghanistan, where the U.S.’s withdrawal left a fragile nation behind.

The original article contains 1,372 words, the summary contains 233 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

AThing4String ,

To anyone reading the summary, this does not do it justice.

Read the article in full this time.

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