Famed ‘Afghan Girl’ Sharbat Gula to Visit India for Medical Aid

Nat Geo’s famous ‘Afghan girl’ will travel to India for medical treatment, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India said.

The green-eyed ‘Afghan girl’ from the 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine.

(Photo Courtesy: National Geographic)

Days after a controversial departure from Pakistan, it emerged that National Geographic's famous "Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula will be travelling to India for medical treatment.

Shaida Abdali, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India, announced on Twitter:

According to her lawyer, Gula, who's in her 40s, suffers from Hepatitis C. She is now scheduled to travel to Bangalore to receive treatment, according to Afghan news agency Khaama Press.

Sharbat Gula was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan on October 26 from her house in Peshawar for forgery of a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card.

She pleaded guilty to all charges against her and was sentenced to 15 days in jail and a fine of Rs 110,000 by a special anti-corruption and immigration court. Following the sentence, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government offered to stop her deportation from the country but she refused to stay in Pakistan.

Famed Afghan woman Sharbat Gulla at the Presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo: AP)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last week personally welcomed her upon her arrival in Afghanistan, offering her a furnished apartment after she was deported by Pakistan.

The woman who stands next to me became an iconic figure representing Afghan deprivation, Afghan hope and Afghan aspirations. All of us are inspired by her courage and determination.

<b>Ashraf Ghani, President, Afghanistan</b>

A “Green-Eyed Girl’s” Journey Across the Subcontinent

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, poses for photographers during a meeting with National Geographic’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl,” Sharbat Gula, and family. (Photo: AP)

The portrait of Sharbat Gula, whose sea-green eyes and piercing gaze, made her an international symbol of refugees facing an uncertain future, first appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985.

Photographer Steve McCurry photographed her as a young girl living in the largest refugee camp in Pakistan, where almost three million Afghans sought shelter in the wake of the 1979 invasion by the Soviet Union. In 2002, McCurry tracked Sharbat Gula down, now married and mother of five, and photographed her again. One of her children died.

That photo has been likened with Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

National Geographic also made a short documentary about her life and dubbed her the "Mona Lisa of Afghan war".

Also Read:

President Ghani Welcomes Nat Geo’s ‘Afghan Girl’ On Her Return

Pakistan Deports Nat Geo’s Iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ to Afghanistan