National Geographic tracks down Afghan girl in famous photo

AP ^ | 3-12-02

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seventeen years ago, an Afghan girl orphaned and living in a refugee camp appeared on the cover of National Geographic, her eyes big and green, a red scarf draped loosely over her hair.

Now, the magazine says it has tracked down the subject of that famous photo, a wife and mother living in a remote part of Afghanistan, and will once again feature her in its April issue focusing on the plight of refugees.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[geaux]

Awesome! I can't wait to see her.

[Dog Gone]

Why would that photo be famous?

[mlmr]

I imagine that is about as much as we are going to see of her.

[VikingsRazeAVillage]

She was a 'hottie'. I can't wait to see her in a 'Burka Bikini'!!!

[geaux]

Bigger picture:

[geaux]

Look at post #6.

[geaux]

I hope not. I had always wondered what had happened to her.

[ArrogantBustard]

The islamofascist freakballs who insist on covering faces like that are the ones who deserve to be horsewhipped.

AB

[Cowgirl]

Seems like they ought to fork over some money to her since she has made them so much money.

[Lizavetta]

Here's her most recent picture:

Living in the mountains can be hard on a girl.

[Atlas Sneezed]

[geaux]

In the shade of an open tent flap, photographer Steve McCurry immortalized the haunted eyes of a 12-year-old refugee in a camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The girl’s piercing green eyes, shocked with hints of blue and fear, gave away her story. Soviet helicopters destroyed her village and family, forcing her to make a two-week trek out of the perilous mountains of Afghanistan.

“This portrait summed up for me the trauma and plight, and the whole situation of suddenly having to flee your home and end up in refugee camp, hundreds of miles away,” McCurry says of the photo that became a National Geographic icon after it was published on the cover in June 1985.

He had come across her two years earlier, while working on a story about the millions of refugees who fled Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. That was also the only time he saw this nameless face, despite numerous efforts to relocate her after the camp she stayed in was evacuated.

Since then, this raw, untouched image has been used on rugs and tattoos, making it one of the most widely reproduced photos in the world, McCurry says.

“I don’t a think a week has gone by for 15 or however many years that I still don’t get requests from people, trying to get information on her,” he says.

[geaux]

Sort of like for that girl who is suing over the Girls Gone Wild video? She's making that same argument.

[real saxophonist]

But did she sign a release?

[geaux]

No kidding. She's absolutely stunning. And she's only 12 in that picture.

[elephantlips]

That's what hangin' around in a burka can do to you.

[Bella_Bru]

She has an almost haunting, breathtaking look about her, doesn't she? She is far more lovely than Kate Moss or others like her.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Just seemed to capture the imagination of the world, this nation. I remember that picture being portrayed as the 'soul' of Afghanistan in the mid 1980's. I remember that cover...the young girl was striking.

Wonder if the years have been kind to her? After all, for the last 17 years, she had to endure the Taliban, birthing/raising 4 children, life in the desert/mountains, Islamic religion, conflicts due to the Northerm Alliance/Pashtun, Soviet Union, America.