Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

‘Mona Lisa of Afghan War’ Returns back Home | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Sharbat Bibi


Islam abad -A Pakistani judge ordered the deportation of Sharbat Gula, “Afghan Girl” whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country’s wars.

The police official said the girl known by her greens eyes was arrested after she was found guilty of illegally obtaining a Pakistani identity card.

Sharbat Bibi became famously known as the “Mona Lisa of the Afghan war” when National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry captured her photograph.

The latter was freed today after being sentenced to 15 days in jail, according to officials.

Steve McCurry captured Bibi’s photo in Nasir Bagh refugee camp situated on the edge of Peshawar in 1984.

Gula was for years the face of Afghanistan’s suffering, after National Geographic published the image of the young refugee, her defiant, pained eyes staring out from an unsmiling face, framed by a shawl over her head.