The striking portrait of then 12-year-old Sharbat Gula, a Pashtun orphan in a refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border, was taken in 1984 and published the following year. Gula was tracked down decades later after living in Pakistan, as no one knew her name for years.
Now at the end of her forties, Gula has come to Rome, according to the Italian Prime Minister’s Office.
“In 1985, thanks to the photography of Steve McCurry, which had depicted him too young for the cover of National Geographic magazine in a refugee camp in Peshawar the previous year, sherbet gula achieved global notoriety, a symbol of revolt and conflict. of the phase of history that Afghanistan and its people were going through,” said a statement issued by Draghi’s office.
Picture of Sharbat Gula in Kabul, Afghanistan in November 2016. Credit: Aaron Sabowoon / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
“In response to requests from non-profit organizations operating in civil society, and in particular in Afghanistan, who, after the events of last August, received Sharbat Gula’s appeal to help them leave their country, the Prime Minister took it to his Took up and organized their relocation to Italy in the broader context of the program of evacuation of Afghan citizens and the government’s plan for their reception and integration,” the statement continues.
CNN has asked the Italian government whether Gula’s family was also granted refugee status, but has yet to hear back.
In 2016 McCurry told CNN the story behind the picture.
“I knew she had an incredible look, a penetrating gaze,” he said. “But there were crowds of people around us, the dust was rolling in, and it was in front of digital cameras and you never knew what would happen with the film.”
McCurry said he knew the picture was special when he developed it.
“I showed it to the editor of National Geographic, and he jumped to his feet and shouted, ‘This is our next cover,'” he said.
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