30 Years After, Famed ‘Afghan Girl’ Finally Gets a Home

One of the world’s most famous refugees, Sharbat Gula who became an instant icon when she peered out from the June 1985 cover of National Geographic magazine as a 12-year-old-refugee, is now the owner of a 3,000-square-foot residence in Afghanistan. The house is a gift from the Afghan government to Sharbat Gula, now 45, along with a roughly $700-per-month stipend for living expenses and medical treatment, according to Najeeb Nangyal, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communication.

Sharbat Gula, known to much of the world simply as the “Afghan girl,” received the keys to the home late last month in a ceremony led by Afghan government officials. It comes after three decades as a refugee in Pakistan.

Sharbat Gula’s piercing green eyes made her an instant icon. Orphaned at age six during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, she had trekked by foot to Pakistan with her siblings and grandmother. Photographer Steve McCurry’s picture of her made her the unwitting posterchild for the plight of thousands of Afghan refugees streaming into Pakistan. In her homeland she became known as the “Afghan Mona Lisa.”

Now she has become a symbol of a return to Afghanistan that hundreds of thousands of refugees are undertaking after decades away.

Photos – National Geographic magazine