Supreme Court declines to hear appeal in disputed Afghan adoption case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal in a disputed adoption case involving an Afghan child orphaned in a U. S. Army raid. The child’s relatives appealed to the high court after a U. S. Marine who helped evacuate them from Afghanistan took custody of the girl despite State Department efforts to reunite her with her Afghan family. A 2022 Associated Press report about the case raised alarms at the highest levels of government, from the Taliban to the White House. The child’s parents were killed in September 2019 when U. S. Army Rangers, along with Afghan forces, raided a rural compound. The baby was found in the rubble and hospitalized at Bagram Air Base near Kabul, where military lawyer Joshua Mast decided with his wife to adopt her. But the State Department during President Donald Trump’s first administration worked with the Afghan government to track down surviving relatives, identified as a cousin and his wife. Get Starting PointA guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.