The “Afghan girl” with green eyes who was the cover of National Geographic arrives in Italy and receives asylum

The afghan Sharbat Gulafamous for Steve McCurry’s 1985 portrait of him for the cover of National Geographic, arrived in Rome as part of the Italian asylum and evacuation program from Afghanistan, the government announced today.

Mario Draghi’s Executive confirmed that the arrival of the 49-year-old Afghan woman responds to requests from civil society, specifically non-governmental organizations active in Afghanistan.

Like many of his compatriots, Sharbat Gula had asked these entities for help to leave their country after the taliban took control of it last August, taking advantage of the departure of US troops.

In this way, the Italian Government “promoted and organized” their transfer to Italy within the framework of its program for the evacuation of Afghans to guarantee their “reception and integration”.

A young woman Gula surprised the world with the strength of his face and the power of his intense green eyes, thanks to a portrait made by Steve McCurry in a camp in Pakistan with which he illustrated a report on Afghan refugees in June 1985.

Thus, it immediately became a symbol of the drama and the vicissitudes of the Afghans, who at that time were in full war for the invasion of the Soviet Union.

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