Afghan Girl

This picture of a young Aghan girl appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. Photgraphed by Steven Curry, when he caught up with her 17 years later, she said she had no idea that she had become an icon. The woman, named Sharbat Gula, who lived in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Afghanistan, had never seen the picture before. She had only had her picture tatken twice in her life, once in 1985, and the second time when the photographer had caught up with her

"When Sharbat agreed to have her picture taken for the second time in her life, she came out from the secrecy of her veil to tell her story. She wanted the people around the world who knew her face to know that she survived the refugee camp in Pakistan.
She married and had four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. She lives in obscurity, according to the customs and traditions of her culture and religion.
A member of the Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan, Sharbat said she fared relatively well under Taliban rule, which, she feels, provided a measure of stability after the chaos and terror of the Soviet war." (National Geographic) .

1985

17 Years Later

Her eyes may show the hardships she's enountered during the course of her life, but they are just as engaging and tell a story as much as when she was a girl.

* I may have seen this photo hundreds of times and it never ceases to amaze me and stop me in my tracks.

- Nay'Chelle (the newbie)

SOURCE: National Geographic