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Sharbat Gula from the iconic photo in National Geographic.
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The fate of the green-eyed Afghan girl on the cover of National Geographic has once again excited the world. Italy has announced that it has granted asylum to Sharbat Gula after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, BNT reported.
In 1985, a photo of her in a refugee camp traveled the world. Years later, the photographer returned to Afghanistan to find her and find out who she was.
One of the most famous covers of the American magazine “National Geographic” is a photo of a young girl with magnetic green eyes, gathered in herself, pain, anger, disbelief. She is Sharbat Gula, an orphan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
One of the millions who sought refuge outside their homeland. In the 1980s, American photographer Steve McCurry went to a refugee camp in Pakistan and took the iconic shot. The green-eyed girl has become a symbol of the military conflicts in Afghanistan.
In 2002, after a 17-year search, McCurry found her in a small Afghan town, already married and with three children. The world learns her name, struck by the imprint that the harsh life has left on Sharbat’s face.
In 2016, she made headlines again because she was arrested in Pakistan for forging identity documents and deported to Afghanistan. Then-President Ashraf Ghani welcomed her return, promising to live with dignity and security in her homeland.
Another turning point in Sharbat’s life is the coming to power of the Taliban this summer. He asked for help to leave Afghanistan and Italy responded.
“Afghan citizen Sharbat Gula has arrived in Rome. We have made every effort to organize her trip to Italy, part of a larger program to evacuate Afghan citizens and a government plan for their reception and integration,” the Italian government said in a statement.
In early September, Rome announced that it had evacuated nearly 5,000 Afghans, including women, for whom life at home had become impossible.
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