S.he symbolized the suffering of the people in Afghanistan in the 1980s: Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman who became known as the “girl with the green eyes” through a press photo, was flown to Italy after the Taliban came to power. “The Afghan citizen Sharbat Gula has arrived in Rome,” said the Italian government on Thursday. Rome “made possible and organized” her departure.
Gula became known as the “girl with the green eyes” three decades ago through a cover picture of National Geographic magazine. The now four-time mother and illiterate woman claims to have come to Pakistan as an orphan after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Photographer Steve McCurry shot the famous picture
The then twelve-year-old girl was photographed there in the mid-1980s by photographer Steve McCurry in a refugee camp. The picture stood for the plight of Afghan refugees, who found a friendly welcome in Pakistan. The Afghan woman was sent back to her homeland in 2016 as Pakistan increased pressure on Afghan refugees to leave the country.
Alongside the USA, Turkey, Great Britain and Germany, Italy was the most heavily involved in the evacuation mission from Kabul after the radical Islamic Taliban took power there in August. About 123,000 people were flown out of Afghanistan via the international airlift within a few weeks.
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