What happened to ‘Afghan girl’ 41 years after iconic photo

Sharbat Gula was just 13 years old when her portrait became famous around the world, but what has happened to her since then?

In 1985, a teenage girl from Afghanistan would become a global icon, instantly recognisable to millions, and more than 40 years later she has found a new home.

Sharbat Gula was just 13 years old when her portrait, taken by photojournalist Steve McCurry, was printed on the front cover of National Geographic in 1985, making her face and her piercing eyes instantly recognisable around the world as the 'Afghan girl'.

To say that a lot has happened in Afghanistan since 1985 would be an enormous understatement. In 1996, 11 years after the photo was taken, the Taliban would take power for the first time, imposing a brutal regime under their first rule from 1996 until 2001, when the government was pushed out by the US invasion.

The extremists would remain out of power for 20 years, waging a war of insurgency against coalition forces in Afghanistan until their chaotic withdrawal presented them with an opportunity.

Sharbat had been living in Pakistan for more than 30 years when she was deported to Afghanistan in 2017, after being arrested for possessing forged identity documents, and was in the country in 2021.

When the Taliban launched their offensive that year the Afghan Army waged a courageous and hard-fought campaign against them, but despite the bravery of the Afghan army, without coalition support they were unable to prevent the Taliban from again seizing power.

They have been in power ever since, running a highly repressive government in which women are particularly targeted by extreme repressive measures.

As the Taliban approached Kabul, images of people clinging to the wheels of a plane as it took off, only to be seen falling from the sky moments later as the aircraft climbed, have taken on their own chilling significance.

Sharbat was a widely recognisable face, and as such there was a particular need for her to get out of Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power, and fortunately she was able to be evacuated to Italy with her family, where she was granted asylum.

“I had the freedom to choose,” she told Italian newspaper La Repubblica in 2024. “When the Taliban arrived, I understood that it would be difficult for me to stay: I am too well-known.

"Several governments offered me help: I ​​chose Italy. I knew that you [Italy] had done a lot for Afghanistan. I wanted to try.”

Speaking about her life in Italy, she said: “Everyone is kind here, but we don’t talk to many people because of the language barrier. No one knows who I am, and for me, that’s very pleasant."

She added: "For now, only my Italian teacher, my doctor, and a few others know who I am, and that suits me just fine.”

Sharbat also expressed unhappiness and frustration with the photo, telling the outlet that it 'created a lot of problems for me'.

"I would have preferred it had never been taken," she said. "I remember that day well, that photographer who arrived at the Nasir Bagh camp school.

"I was a child. I didn't like photos. In Afghan culture women do not appear in photos. But there wasn't much choice"

Sharbat shared that her daughter wants to become a doctor, something that would be impossible in Afghanistan where women are not permitted education beyond primary school.

"Here we are free, we can choose," said Sharbat. "My daughter wants to become a doctor: and I promised her that I will do everything I can to make her wish come true."

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