Sad truth behind ‘Afghan girl’ that will change the way you look at her photo forever
There are a whole load of iconic photos that have been taken over the years with lasting legacies to this day.
From Marilyn Monroe’s flying skirt snap and Albert Einstein tongue-out selfie all the way through to the lunchtime skyscraper photo taken at Rockefeller Plaza - it's clear there are several snaps that have truly stood the test of time.
One of which includes a photo titled 'Afghan Girl' which was taken by war photographer Steve McCurry way back when in 1984 at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, during the time of the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan.
But there is an incredibly sad truth behind the iconic image that will probably change the way you look at it forever.
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The photo
The snap shows Sharbat looking into McCurry's camera lens with a pair of piercing green eyes - an image which captivated the world when it appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985.
Unbeknownst at the time, McCurry captured what would go on to become one of the world’s most recognised photos of human struggle of all time.
"The photo in 1984 showed her dignity, innocence, heart, fortitude and perseverance. She humanised the true struggle for war refugees globally with no words spoken, simply her face," McCurry told Al Jazeera back in 2016 when asked about what the image represented.
He added: "I think there was a bit of defiance in her expression. Her face defined the collective refugee feeling and the struggle. I think all Afghans have a common feeling that they’re in a difficult life, but we’re going to power through this and preserve. Her face was troubled, but her head was held high."
The reunion
It wasn't until nearly two decades later, in 2002, that Sharbat was identified as the young girl in the photo at which point she was in her 30s.
Yes, it took a whole 18 years for photographer McCurry to find Sharbat and again captured her image.
This time, however, she was living in in a remote Afghan village, and her identity was confirmed via iris recognition.
"When we found her again back in 2002, she was a mother, continuing her struggle to try to make ends meet for her family," McCurry went on. "We saw an evolution of difficulty transcend on her face.
"She looked hardened because of the climate, anxiety, lack of proper hygiene, poor nutrition. Despite all she’s endured, she’s still going."
Sharbat's response
Sharbat wasn't unaware of her global fame and had never seen the photo until that moment when she reconnected with McCurry.
In a 2022 interview with La Repubblica, Sharbat shared her feelings on the photo.
"That photo created a lot of problems for me... I would have preferred it had never been taken. I remember that day well, that photographer who arrived at the Nasir Bagh camp school. I was a child. I didn't like photos. In Afghan culture women do not appear in photos. But there wasn't much choice," she said.
When asked how she felt about the photograph after a National Geographic team led by McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to find her, she replied: "I became very surprised [because] I didn't like media and taking photos from childhood. At first, I was concerned about the publicity of my photo but when I found out that I have been the cause of support/help for many people/refugees, then I became happy."
After finding Sharbat, National Geographic covered the costs of medical treatment for her family and a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Sharbat's arrest
In 2014, Sharbat surfaced again in Pakistan but was forced to go into hiding after she was accused of buying a fake Pakistani national identification card - charges which she denied as per the Washington Post.
It was then that she was deported and flown to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, where then-president Ashraf Ghani hosted a reception and handed her keys to a new apartment.
What's Sharbat doing now?
In 2021, after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Italy evacuated Sharbat and granted her asylum and later refugee status.
She now reportedly lives in Rome with support from the Italian government, expressing a desire for education and stability for her children.
Italy's prime minister, Mario Draghi said that Sharbat's photograph had come to 'symbolise the vicissitudes and conflict of the chapter in history that Afghanistan and its people were going through at the time'.
Topics: World News, News, Explained, Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle