Bryan McAllister’s personal reference notebook
September 12, 2026Short & citedBlog
Civic Viewpoint.
A quiet encyclopedia with a personal desk
Kept by Bryan McAllister — short guides, clear facts, and the Canadian angle when it matters.
People File • Refugee

Sharbat Gula

Sharbat Gula is an Afghan woman of Pashtun ethnicity who became internationally known as the subject of Steve McCurry’s 1984 portrait *Afghan Girl*, published on the cover of *National Geographic* in June 1985.

Updated September 12, 20261 min readCited sources

Sharbat Gula is an Afghan woman known worldwide as the subject of Steve McCurry's 1984 portrait *Afghan Girl*. Her image, published on the cover of *National Geographic* in June 1985, became an enduring symbol of the refugee experience.

The *Afghan Girl* photograph

In 1984, McCurry photographed Gula in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. The portrait first appeared on the cover of *National Geographic* in June 1985 and remains one of the magazine’s most famous images. Gula was publicly identified by name in 2002 after years of anonymity.

Life in Pakistan and deportation

Gula lived in Pakistan for decades as a refugee with her family. In 2016 she was arrested over forged identity documents, and Pakistani authorities deported her to Afghanistan in 2017.

Relocation to Italy

After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, Gula sought help leaving the country. She was evacuated to Italy in November 2021 and granted refugee status there.

In short

  • Sharbat Gula is the girl in Steve McCurry’s *Afghan Girl* photograph.
  • The image first appeared on the cover of *National Geographic* in June 1985.
  • She lived as a refugee in Pakistan before being deported in 2017.
  • After the Taliban takeover, she was evacuated to Italy and granted refugee status in 2021.
Canadian angle

Sharbat Gula’s story is widely known in Canada through global photojournalism, refugee-history coverage, and *National Geographic*’s international readership, but there is no major Canada-specific connection in the available sources.

Quick questions

Who is Sharbat Gula?
Sharbat Gula is an Afghan woman of Pashtun ethnicity best known as the subject of the 1984 photograph *Afghan Girl*, published on the cover of *National Geographic* in 1985.
What happened to Sharbat Gula?
She lived for years as a refugee in Pakistan, was arrested in 2016, deported to Afghanistan in 2017, and later evacuated to Italy in 2021 after the Taliban takeover.
Where is Sharbat Gula now?
As of the latest available reporting, she was evacuated to Italy in 2021 and granted refugee status there.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharbat_Gula
    Supports: Birth c. 1972; Afghan Pashtun woman; identification; Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Italy timeline.
  2. Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Girl
    Supports: Photo details, 1984 portrait, June 1985 *National Geographic* cover, refugee context, later identification.
  3. BBC News — https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38640487
    Supports: Living in Kabul after deportation from Pakistan; refugee background and family details.
  4. National Geographic — https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/afghan-girl-home-afghanistan
    Supports: Her fame from the June 1985 cover and later status in Afghanistan.
  5. Wikipedia (Catalan) — https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharbat_Gula
    Supports: 2021 evacuation to Italy and arrival in Rome.