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Sharbat Gula: Famous “Afghan girl” flown out to Rome

Sharbat Gula became world famous at the age of 12 when she did the cover of 1984 “National Geographic” graced. It symbolized the suffering of Afghanistan. Now the woman has been evacuated to Italy.

Piercing green eyes look suspiciously frightened from the face of an Afghan girl in a red veil: The photo of the refugee Sharbat Gula by photographer Steve McCurry became world-famous in the mid-1980s. The Italian government has now evacuated the 40-year-old from Afghanistan and brought her to Rome. The official seat of Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced on Thursday.

Symbol for the suffering of Afghanistan

In the 1980s, it was symbolic of the suffering of the people in Afghanistan: The through a press photo as “Girl with the green eyes” Famous Afghan woman Sharbat Gula is 49 years old today and fled her home country again after the Taliban came to power. “The Afghan citizen Sharbat Gula has arrived in Rome”the Italian government said on Thursday. Rome has her departure “enabled and organized”.

Sharbat Gula was sent back to her homeland from Pakistan in 2016.  Now she was able to flee again.

Aid organizations had carried on the woman’s appeal to leave the country that was taken over by the militant Islamic Taliban in August. The Draghi government then organized their departure to Italy in connection with the evacuation plan for Afghan citizens.

Sharbat Gula’s famous photo was taken in 1884

McCurry photographed Gula in 1984 in the Pakistani refugee camp Nasir Bagh, where the girl had fled during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. “Afghan Girl” (Afghan girl) stood for the suffering of the Afghan people at that time. Her photo appeared on the cover of the magazine the following year “National Geographic”.

After that, the trace of the woman was initially lost. After the end of the Taliban rule, McCurry was able to find her again in 2002. In 2016, the Gula was sent back to their homeland as Pakistan increased pressure on Afghan refugees to leave the country.

Stern reporter Jonas Breng visits the Taliban in Afghanistan

Italy heavily involved in evacuations

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.

Source From: Stern

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