The story of Sharbat Gula, Nat Geo's famous green-eyed Afghan girl, who was given refuge in Italy

By Team Newsable | First Published Nov 26, 2021, 1:01 PM IST

Sharbat Gula, upon hearing this name, not many would know whose face to match. But, show a photograph of the famous green-eyed in a refugee camp in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the cover of a 1985 edition of National Geographic magazine - one would instantly recognize her as the 'Afghan Girl'.

Sharbat Gula, who was given refuge in Italy on Thursday (November 25), had reached out to Mario Draghi's government asking for help to leave Pakistan following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August this year. PM Draghi said that Gula's arrival was part of the broader programme to evacuate and integrate Afgan citizens in Italy.

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Photographed by Steve McCurry, who was himself unaware of the 12-year-old's name when he clicked her, captured not just those startling green eyes peering out from a headscarf but also the ferocity and pain of the Afghanistan tragedy. It was, however, only in 2002 that McCurry decided to return to the region to track the famous Afghan girl down.

In 1984, Stever McCurry was commissioned by the National Geographic channel to take photos of the refugee camps along the border of war-torn Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the Nasir Bagh camp, McCurry came across a class of 15 school girls. Among them, one stood out for her emerald-like green eyes. Describing the look as haunted, penetrating and intense, McCurry captured the girl's photograph. When McCurry snapped Sharbat Gula, she covered her face with her hands. However, her teacher asked Sharbat Gula to reveal her face so that the whole world could see her story through those eyes. The iconic photo made its way to the cover of the Nat Geo magazine in 1985.

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Seventeen years later, McCurry decided to trace the famous Afghan girl. He was presented with several women who called themselves Sharbat Gula, but the photographer had visual pointers to identify the real one. The trip was a timely one because the camp where McCurry had snapped Sharbat Gula was on the verge of being shut down. The Nat Geo crew spoke to hundreds of people in their quest to meet the Afghan girl. Some even said that the girl was no more. One man who breathed a sigh of relief into their search mission was Sharbat Gula's brother. An FBI analyst, forensic sculptor and even the inventor of iris recognition confirmed that she was indeed the famous Afghan girl. But McCurry was stunned that a face could age so fast within almost two decades. But such is the reality of the misery of thousands of Afghan women living in the war-struck country.

In 2016, Pakistan arrested Sharbat Gula for forging a national identity card to live in the country. However, the then Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani ensured that the famous Afghan girl returned home and even promised to give her an apartment to ensure she lives in dignity and security in her homeland.

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Since the Taliban takeover, several Afghan women have been living in the garb of fear. Sharbat Gula was one among them, and to ensure the safety of her life, the iconic Afghan girl reached out to the Italian government to provide safe heaven to her and her family. The Taliban leaders have said that women would be given rights according to Islamic Sharia law. But their rule from 1996 to 2001, where women were banned from working, studying, forced to cover their faces and leave home accompanied by a male relative, remains a fearful memory. Sharbat Gula, too, will stay in the world's memories as the green-eyed Afghan Girl forever.

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