Military family details desperate fight to save adopted 5-year-old from Taliban's clutches on Glenn Beck's show

Joshua and Stephanie Mast adopted the orphaned daughter of Al-Qaeda foreign fighters after U.S. soldiers found her as the sole survivor of a close-combat clash in Afghanistan in 2019.

The Masts detailed their years-long, ongoing legal battle to retain custody of their 5-year-old daughter on this week's episode of "The Glenn Beck Podcast."

The child, an infant at the time, miraculously survived a battle between Al-Qaeda foreign fighters and U.S. Army Rangers. Her suspected biological father died during the "brutal close combat" that lasted over an hour and a half, according to Joshua. The girl's suspected mother detonated explosives strapped to her chest while holding her newborn.

"[The foreign terrorists] did a series of what they call 'barricaded shooters,' so it is a suicidal terrorist who will barricade themselves in — with the presence of their family in a room — and engage whoever's coming in that room and not surrender no matter what. They will even blow up their families rather than surrender," Joshua stated.

'They were probably sent forward by the Taliban shadow government to collect her from the Americans.'

He detailed where his daughter was recovered during the battle, explaining that U.S. soldiers and an Afghan partner unit — after running out of breaching explosives — used what he stated was essentially a bazooka to "blow a hole in the final room to clear it of the remaining terrorists."

Joshua stated that the blast was believed to have killed the girl's biological father.

"The Ranger testified under oath that he observed what ended up being her biological mother run out of that hole that they created, screaming at him," he continued.

According to the testimony, Joshua stated that the mother, while holding her daughter, detonated an explosive device secured to her chest.

"She was about 6 weeks old," Joshua said, referring to the child. "She suffered a fractured skull, a fractured left femur so bad they had to put a rod in to put it back together, and second-degree burns on her face and neck."

He stated that the Afghan partner force fighting alongside the Rangers pushed for the infant to be killed, fearing she would become a terrorist.

"They sustained a casualty and were very angry about that. They literally came to our Rangers, and they're like, 'Let us shoot her in the head. ... Let's just throw her in the creek,'" Joshua told Beck. "Our guys physically resisted murdering our little girl."

The Masts fought for the child, whom they refer to as Baby Sparrow, to receive a visa and relocate to the U.S. to receive treatment for her ongoing medical needs. However, the Masts said they faced considerable opposition despite obtaining all the documentation required to secure custody.

Joshua expressed concern that the child was not an Afghan native and therefore should not have been turned over to an orphanage in Afghanistan. He was also worried that the child would be placed with relatives who would similarly bring her into a war zone.

He explained that the peace deal between the U.S. and Afghanistan "blew up" around September 2019. Amid attempts to renegotiate, the Taliban denied that the Al-Qaeda foreign fighter group to which the child's parents belonged had a presence in Afghanistan.

Joshua stated that the Taliban has a "strategic interest" in the situation, noting that several individuals came forward claiming to be related to the child but failed genetic testing.

"Two days before the peace deal's signed, the U.S. government, through the embassy's representations, turns her over to an unvetted, what's turned out to be a nonrelative, terrorist-affiliated person. The guy's got a Taliban flag on his WhatsApp profile," Joshua told Beck.

He added that the young Afghan couple who is trying to take custody of Baby Sparrow has refused to take a DNA test to prove their relation.

The Masts gained custody of the child following the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 after they helped the child and the young couple escape.

Although Baby Sparrow has been with the Masts since then, the Afghan couple persists in seeking her return.

"When we did get her finally, she wasn't the same baby as she was in the hospital," Stephanie stated. "When I saw her for the first time, I actually wondered if it was the same child because her face was closed off. She was very fearful and scared. She would hardly look up."

"The fear and trauma in her face, I've never seen that in a child before," she added. "When she came home, she had lice, parasites, emotional trauma, just everything."

The Masts explained that their adoption case is before the Virginia Supreme Court as they continue to battle to maintain custody of the child.

"These are not relatives. They probably knew they were not from day one. They were probably sent forward by the Taliban shadow government to collect her from the Americans," Joshua told Beck.

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