In this file photo from 2016, a bookstore owner in Pakistan displays a National Geographic magazine with a cover photo of Afghan refugee Sharbat Gulla. She arrived in Italy as part of the Western evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban took over the country, the Italian government said on Thursday. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said she had asked for help to leave the country.
BK Bangash / AP
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BK Bangash / AP
In this file photo from 2016, a bookstore owner in Pakistan displays a National Geographic magazine with a cover photo of Afghan refugee Sharbat Gulla. She arrived in Italy as part of the Western evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban took over the country, the Italian government said on Thursday. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said she had asked for help to leave the country.
BK Bangash / AP
ROME – National Geographic’s famous blue-eyed “Afghan girl” has arrived in Italy as part of the Western evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban took over the country, the Italian government said on Thursday.
Premier Mario Draghi’s office said Italy had organized the evacuation of Sharbat Gula after she asked for help to leave the country. The Italian government will now help her adjust to life in Italy, the statement said.
National Geographic’s famous blue-eyed “Afghan girl” Sharbat Gulla photographed in 2016. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office says the Italian government will now help to welcome her and help her adjust to her new life in IDEA.
Rahmat Gul / AP
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Rahmat Gul / AP
National Geographic’s famous blue-eyed “Afghan girl” Sharbat Gulla photographed in 2016. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office says the Italian government will now help to welcome her and help her adjust to her new life in IDEA.
Rahmat Gul / AP
Gula gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurry’s photograph of her with piercing green eyes was published on the cover of National Geographic. . McCurry found her again in 2002.
In 2014, she rose to prominence in Pakistan but later went into hiding when authorities accused her of purchasing a fake Pakistani identity card and ordered her to be deported. She was flown to Kabul, where the president held a reception for her at the presidential palace and gave her keys to a new apartment.
Italy is one of a number of Western nations that have transported hundreds of Afghans out of the country following the departure of US forces and the Taliban takeover in August.
