Afghanistan and the United States are not treaty partners under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Abduction Convention).

The State Department has no higher priority than to safeguard the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad, the most vulnerable of whom are children.  We believe that courts in children’s habitual residences are best placed to make custody determinations and therefore it is our priority to return children who have been abducted to or wrongfully retained in countries outside their countries of habitual residence are returned to their home countries. Learn More