Sharbat Gula, known widely as “the Afghan Girl,” was born around 1972 into a Pashtun family in the mountainous regions near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.
From a young age, she experienced displacement and the first blows of war—losing her mother, fleeing home, and eventually arriving with her grandmother and siblings at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan.
The Defining Moment of the Photograph That Changed Everything
In 1984, photojournalist Steve McCurry captured an image of Sharbat Gula, then about 12 years old, in the refugee camp.
Clad in a red-tinged scarf and staring with piercing green eyes, completely still, she embodied both innocence and the weight of loss.
The following year, her portrait appeared on a prominent magazine cover and swiftly became a global symbol for refugee plight, stirring deep emotion and interest worldwide.
Unveiling Her Identity and the Path She Took After
Her identity remained unknown for nearly 17 years until around 2002, when it was finally verified that the child in the photograph was indeed Sharbat Gula.
Throughout her years in Pakistan’s refugee camps, she received little formal education—learning mostly to write her own name under extremely challenging conditions.
In subsequent years, she experienced legal troubles related to residency documents, detention, and deportation in 2016. Later, following political upheavals in Afghanistan, she was evacuated to Italy along with family members.
Despite the trials—physical, emotional, and economic—she remains a powerful symbol of resistance, survival, and unseen strength.
Sharbat Gula Today
Sharbat Gula is no longer just an image on a magazine cover; she is a life story, one that tells of loss, displacement, forced childhood, and the fragile hope that carries one forward.
She represents the countless children whose childhoods are disrupted by conflict—those whose journeys are rarely seen but deeply felt.
While she achieved global recognition, she prefers privacy—living away from the spotlight, coping with her own life’s realities amidst constant global change affecting refugee communities.
How the Photograph Impacted Global Awareness
The photograph of Sharbat Gula played a major role in amplifying global consciousness about refugee tensions.
It has been used in awareness campaigns, artistic works, cultural discussions, and human rights dialogues.
It continues to remind the world of the cost of conflict, the vulnerability of the displaced, and the universal need for compassion, education, and healthcare for those uprooted by war.
Source: Akhbar24
