The portrait of Sharbat Gula, taken by photographer Steve McCurry, went around the world after starring on a cover of ‘National Geographic’ in 1985
Sharbat Gula’s green eyes shook international public opinion in 1985 when the photograph of this Afghan girl was published on the cover of ‘National Geographic’ magazine. That image taken by the American reporter Steve McCurry the previous year, when the girl was 12 years old, became a symbol of the conflicts in the Central Asian country and a reference for photographers around the world. 36 years later, the fate of this woman is today the same as that of so many of her compatriots: exile. Gula, who is now 49 years old, arrived in Rome on Thursday as a refugee after the Government of Mario Draghi responded to her request for help after the conquest of Kabul by the Taliban on August 15.
It was the Executive itself who reported his arrival in the Eternal City, clarifying that he “promoted and organized” his transfer to Italy within the framework of his program to guarantee the “reception and integration” of Afghans. The Italian Government, which has carried out the refugee evacuation campaign in two phases, is thus responding to the chaos unleashed in the Central Asian country after radical Islamists took advantage of the power gap left by the withdrawal of Western forces, led by States. United. In the last two weeks of August, like many other nations, Italy launched an airlift with Kabul airport to evacuate its compatriots and Afghans who had collaborated with the Italian mission. About 5,000 people benefited from those flights.
On November 4, the Executive announced the second phase of its reception program: the creation of humanitarian corridors to bring Afghan citizens in need of international protection who are in the reception camps in Pakistan safely to the European country. Iran or other nations in the area. 1,200 people are expected to take part in this initiative, in which the United Nations, the Episcopal Conference, the Federation of Evangelical Churches, the Community of Sant’Egidio and other charitable and religious organizations collaborate. According to the Interior Minister, Luciana Lamorgese, the figure could be expanded to reach up to 2,000 Afghan refugees hosted.
Official Italian sources did not want to give more information about the arrival of Gula, who married at the age of 13 and had four daughters, one of whom died shortly after birth, and a son. It is unknown whether her family also landed in Rome with her. Ethnic Pashtun and orphan, when McCurry photographed her the then girl was living in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan due to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Her identity remained unknown until, in early 2002, a team from ‘National Geographic’ magazine organized a difficult expedition to the Central Asian country after the fall of the Taliban to find her, which they succeeded. The woman remembered McCurry, having been the only one to photograph her in his entire life, something the reporter was then able to do once more.
Although born in Afghanistan, Gula has spent much of her life in Pakistan, where she was arrested and returned to her home country by police in October 2016 on charges of falsifying an identity document. The Afghan authorities then assured that they would be responsible for providing housing and educational opportunities for his family. The victory of the Taliban last summer changed the existence of Gula, who is now beginning a new life in Italy.
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