A life revealed : seventeen years after she started out from the cover of National Geographic, a former afghan refugee comes face-to-face with the world once more
Photographs· by
Steve McCurry
National Geographic Society •
New York
2002
remembers the Inoinent. The photographer tool( her picture. She remembers her anger. The Then and now: As a girl magazine. Her eyes are sea green. man was a stranger. She had (above) she was photo They are haunted and haunting, never been photographed be graphed by Steve McCurry and in them you can read the fore. Until they met again 17 in a camp in Pakistan for a tragedy of a land drained by war. years later, she had not been story on Afghan refugees She became known around photographed since. that ran in the June 1985 National Geographic as the The photographer remembers GEOGRAPHIC. Today she is the "Afghan girl," and for 17 years the moment too. The light was mother of three daughters, no one knew her name. soft. The refugee camp in Paki including one-year-old Alia. In January a team from stan was a sea of tents. Inside the National Geographic Television school tent he noticed her first. Sensing her & Film's EXPLORER brought McCurry to shyness, he approached her last. She told him Pakistan to search for the girl with green he could take her picture. "I didn't think the eyes. They showed her picture around Nasir photograph of the girl would be different Bagh, the still standing refugee camp near from anything else I shot that day," he recalls Peshawar where the photograph had been of that morning in 1984 spent documenting made. A teacher from the school claimed to the ordeal of Afghanistan's refugees. know her name. A young woman named The portrait by Steve McCurry turned out Alam Bibi was located in a village nearby, but to be one of those images that sears the heart, McCurry decided it wasn't her. and in June 1985 it ran on the cover of this No, said a man who got wind of the search.
By CATHY NEWMAN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SE NIOR WAITER Photographs by STEVE McCURRY He knew the girl in the picture. A family portrait shows, has not softened. "She's had a They had lived at the camp from left to right, three hard life," said McCurry. "So together as children. She had year-old daughter Zahida, many here share her story." Con returned to Afghanistan years ago, husband Rahmat Gul, sider the numbers. Twenty-three he said, and now lived in the Sharbat Gula, Alia , and years of war, l.5 million killed, mountains near Tora Bora. He Sharbat's older brother, 3.5 million refugees: This is the would go get her. Kashar Khan. story of Afghanistan in the past It took three days for her to To help McCurry and quarter century. arrive. Her village is a six-hour the TV crew locate her, Now, consider this photograph drive and three-hour hike across elders from the Nasir of a young girl with sea green a border that swallows lives. Bagh refugee camp eyes. Her eyes challenge ours. When McCurry saw her walk into (right) circulated Most of all, they disturb. We the room, he thought to himself: McCurry's photograph. cannot turn away. This is her. Names have power, so let us speak of hers. "THERE IS NOT ONE FAMILY that has Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun, not eaten the bitterness of war;' a young that most warlike of Afghan tribes. It is said Afghan merchant said in the 1985 NATIONAL of the Pashtun that they are only at peace GEOGRAPHIC story that appeared with Sharbat's when they are at war, and her eyes-then and photograph on the cover. She was a child now-burn with ferocity. She is 28, perhaps when her country was caught in the jaws of 29, or even 30. No one, not even she, knows the Soviet invasion. A carpet of destruction for sure. Stories shift like sand in a place where smothered countless villages like hers. She was no records exist. perhaps six when Soviet bombing killed her Time and hardship have erased her youth. parents. By day the sky bled terror. At night Her skin looks like leather. The geometry of the dead were buried. And always, the sound her jaw has softened. The eyes still glare; that of planes, stabbing her with dread. "We left Afghanistan because of the fight hope;' said Yusufzai. "Each time, the Afghan ing;' said her brother, Kashar Khan, filling in people have found themselves betrayed the narrative of her life. He is a straight line by their leaders and by outsiders professing of a man with a raptor face and piercing eyes. to be their friends and saviors." "The Russians were everywhere. They were In the mid-1990s, during a lull in the fight killing people. We had no choice." ing, Sharbat Gula went home to her village Shepherded by their grandmother, he and in the foothills of mountains veiled by snow. his four sisters walked to Pakistan. For a week To live in this earthen-colored village at the they moved through mountains covered in end of a thread of path means to scratch out snow, begging for blankets to keep warm. an existence, nothing more. There are terraces "You never knew when the planes would planted with corn, wheat, and rice, some wal come;' he recalled. "We hid in caves:' nut trees, a stream that spills down the moun tain (except in times of drought), but no school, clinic, roads, or running water. Here is the bare out line of her day. She rises before sunrise and prays. She fetches water from the stream. She cooks, cleans, does laundry. She cares for her children; they are the center of her life. Robina is 13. Zahida is three. Alia, the baby, is one. A fourth daughter died in infancy. Sharbat has never known a happy day, her brother says, except perhaps the day of her marriage. Her husband, Rahmat Gul, is slight in build, The journey that began with the loss of with a smile like the gleam of a lantern at dusk. their parents and a trek across mountains She remembers being married at 13. No, he by foot ended in a refugee camp tent living says, she was 16. The match was arranged. with strangers. He lives in Peshawar (there are few jobs "Rural people like Sharbat find it difficult in Afghanistan) and works in a bakery. He to live in the cramped surroundings of a refu bears the burden of medical bills; the dollar a gee camp," explained Rahimullah Yusufzai, day he earns vanishes like smoke. Her asthma, a respected Pakistani journalist who acted as which cannot tolerate the heat and pollution interpreter for McCurry and the television of Peshawar in summer, limits her time in the crew. "There is no privacy. You live at the city and with her husband to the winter. The mercy of other people:' More than that, you. rest of the year she lives in the mountains. live at the mercy of the politics of other At the age of 13, Yusufzai, the journalist, countries. "The Russian invasion destroyed explained, she would have gone into purdah, our lives," her brother said. the secluded existence followed by many It is the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan. Islamic women once they reach puberty. Invasion. Resistance. Invasion. Will it ever "Women vanish from the public eye;' he said. end? "Each change of government brings In the street she wears a plum-colored burka, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER MARK THIESSEN lABOVE LEFT); ALEXANDRA BOULAT which walls her off from the world MORE ON OUR Wf;BSITE too late for her 13-year-old and from the eyes of any man daughter as well, Sharbat Gula SIGHTS & SOUNDS Immerse other than her husband. "It is a said. The two younger daughters yourself in the quest to find beautiful thing to wear, not a still have a chance. curse," she says. the "Afghan girl"' in this nar- rated multimedia special. Faced by questions, she retreats THE REU 10 between the Also view video from the into the black shawl wrapped woman with green eyes and the National Geograph ic around her face, as if by doing photographer was quiet. On EXPLORER show. (See local so she might will herself to evap the subject of married women, listings for repeat airings on orate. The eyes flash anger. It is cultural tradition is strict. She MSNBC and internationally riot her custom to subject herself must not look-and certainly on the National Geographic to the questions of strangers. must not smile-at a man who Channel.) Check out field Had she ever felt safe? is not her husband. She did not tales from the TV team and "No. But life under the Taliban smile at McCurry. Her expres Steve McCurry, and read the was better. At least there was peace sion, he said, was flat. She cannot June 1985 story at national and order." understand how her picture has geographic.com;ngm/0204. Had she ever seen the photo touched so many. She does not graph of herself as a girl? know the power of those eyes. "No." Such knife-thin odds. That she would be She can write her name, but cannot read. alive. That she could be found. That she could She harbors the hope of education for her endure such loss. Surely, in the face of such children. "I want my daughters to have skills;' bitterness the spirit could atrophy. How, she she said. "I wanted to finish school but could was asked, had she survived? not. I was sorry when I had to leave." The answer came wrapped in unshakable Education, it is said, is the light in the eye. certitude. There is no such light for her. It is possibly "It was;' said Sharbat Gula, "the will of God."
coNTRIBUTING REPORTERs: Lawrence Cumbo, Boyd Matson, and Carrie Regan, all a tiona] Geographic Television & Film PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE McCURRY IN AFGHANISTAN, 1992
By STEVE McCURRY I could see her eyes through the camera lens. They're still the same.
Her skin is weathered, there are wrinkles now, shyest of them, Sharbat, said I could take her but she's as striking as the young girl I photo photograph, and I shot a few frames. graphed 17 years ago. Both times our connec When I saw the film, I was surprised by tion was through the lens. This time she found how still and quiet it appeared. At that point it easier to look into the lens than at me. She the Soviets had been in Afghanistan for five is a married woman and must not look at a years. So it was a specific moment in time. man who is not her husband. Yet it was a timeless moment. There's the idea Our conversation was brief. There was little that this image was emblematic for what was emotion. I explained that so many had been happening in Afghanistan. But a lot of people moved by her photograph. I've received don't know the picture is related to Afghani countless letters from people around the stan, and they still respond to that look. world who were inspired by the photograph I'm relieved to know that this young woman to volunteer in refugee camps or do aid work has survived and has been able to carve out a in Afghanistan. When she saw the photo for life for herself. I hope that finding her will be the first time, she was embarrassed by the a good thing for her and her family. I'd like holes in her red shawl. A cooking fire had her to look back in ten years and be happy burned it, she said. She is glad her picture was this happened. I intend to check in on her for an inspiration. But I don't think the photo the rest of my life. graph means anything to her. The only thing It's fortunate we found her now. The local that matters is her husband and children. government is going to rip down the refugee I remember the noise and confusion in that camp and build a housing development. If refugee camp 17 years ago. I knew that Afghan we had tried to do this a year from now, it girls, just a few years away from disappearing would have been impossible. Only through behind a traditional veil, might be reluctant to contacts in the camp were we able to locate have their picture taken by a male Westerner. her. Afghanistan has been in a Dark Age for So I proceeded carefully. I asked the teacher two decades. That she's resurfaced now is for permission to enter the girls' school tent perhaps prophetic, a hopeful sign. We'll have and photograph a few of the students. The to wait and see. 0
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S AFGHAN GIRLS FUND Many women in Afghanistan want the same thing for their daughters that Sharbat Gula wants for hers: an education. The National Geographic Society has decided to create the Afghan Girls Fund. The Society will work with select nonprofit organizations to develop educational opportunities for the girls and young women of Afghanistan. You are welcome to participate by going to national eo ra hic.com/n m/0204 or sending a check directly to the Afghan Girls Fund, Development Office, National Geographic Society, 1145 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Forum ·~~'NATIQNAL - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY t£ ' ~· ~··\PHIC "For the increase and diffi
nearby but was rejected when it Erta'ale in Ethiopia and Nyira ADMINISTRATION Anance: Michael J. Cole, ControJfer: H. Gregory Platts. tried to suckle. Adoption is rare; gongo in the Democratic Republic Treasurer. Law: Susan Borke, Angelo M. Grima, Suzanne each mother has only one pup a of the Congo, which erupted so R. McDowell. Membership and Marketing Services: Mary P. Donohoe year, and enough milk and energy devastatingly in late January. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VENTURES for that pup. C. RIC! lARD ALLEN, President and CEO Journey of Faith Television: Timothy T. Kelly, President. National FOR MORE INFORMATION / Geographic Channel: David Haslingden, President. Tad Szulc's article on Abraham International; La ureen Ong. President. U.S.: And rew MEMBERSHIP Plea se call was the best I've ever read on C. Wilk, Exec. Vice President, Programming. nationalgeographic.com: Mitchell Praver. President. 1-800-NGS-LINE (1 -800-647-5463}. the subject. It should be required Maps: William L. Stoehr, Prestdent; Allen Carroll, Chief Specia l device for the hearing-impaired reading for Israelis, Palestinians, Car tographer. Enterprises: Linda Berkeley. President; lynn Cutter, Travel: John Dumbacher. Licensing. (TDD} 1-800·548-9797. and anyone who cares about Finance: Frances A. Marshall Online: nationalgeographic.com; ngm peace in the Middle East. The Copyright Ct> 2002 National GeographiC Society. AU rights reserved. NAT IONAL GEOGRAPH IC and Yellow Border: Registered Trademarks® Marcas Registradas. NAfiO NA.l GEOGRAPHIC assumes no responstblhty fO r NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • APRIL 2002 unsolicited materials. Printed in U.S.A. Afghanistan of military allies that exposes Congratulations on the map their ugly sides as well as their of Afghanistan. The map stays pleasant ones. where I watch television, and it ADAM MCCONN EL is a pleasure to pick it up and lstanlml, Turkey document where the action is. ANNABEL GIRARD I admire Edward Girardet for Dn11vil/e, Kc11tucky a job well done on Afghani stan. I was touched by the lives I am concerned about the of the Afghan people under heroizing of Ahmad Shah the cruel hands of the Taliban. Massoud Iright[. His forces I hope people will unite and have been accused of brutal continue to help them improve
human rights violations in their lives and become com REZA the past, just as the Tali ban pletely free from the bondage a stay near the wonderful has been. The Northern Alli that hinders their development lakes of Ban d-e Amir, west of ance is only an alliance in and well -being. I didn't know Bamian. A river ran through name, formed against the the real story there until I read a chalky white mountain, common threat of the Talib story begins with words that hatred and killing in the name Your use of Rembrandt's "Sac sadly are nearly as true today of"my God," it is hard to argue rifice of l saac" on the cover sum as in 2000 B.c.: "Imagine a world that such a belief has changed marizes the key moral concepts saturated with ignorance and the world for the better. of the three great faiths: obe hatred ... without any hope of TOM LYNCH dience (Judaism), submission redemption." We Christians, Atlanta, Georgia (Islam), and mercy (Christianity). jews, and Muslims would do The values are embodied, respec well to emulate Abraham and his The caption on pages 124-5 tively, in the figures of Abraham, obedience, for God wants us all misleadingly characterizes Isaac, and the angel. to live in peace and harmony. Ham as, the Islamic Resistance THOMAS A. REISNER DON GRAHAM Movement, as a group that seeks St. -Lwnbrrt-de-Levis, Quebec G•·een Lane, Pennsylvania "to force the 'Zionist entity' out of Palestine." Based on my own On page I 27 the author writes of It is easy to see today that indeed and other journalists' interviews how Sarah acted independently the five simple words "My God in the area, I'd say it's more accu of Abraham: "I asked him if this will save me" have changed the rate to describe it as a Palestinian makes Sarah the first great fem world. Unfortunately, with many grassroots organization whose inist. 'Yes,' the rabbi shot back." of Abraham's offspring envel goal is to end Israel's 34-year-old But my question is: What about oping the world in their mutual military occupation of the West mother Eve? Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza VERDE H UGHES WRITE TO FORUM so that a viable Palestinian state Mesquite, Nevada National Geographic Magazine, PO Box can be established alongside 98199, Washington, DC 20090·8199, Israel. Of course, the terrorism As a retired Episcopal priest and or by fax to 202-828-5460, or via the Hamas's military wing often sometime college instructor in Intern et to ngsforum@nationalgeograph employs should be deplored, just the humanities and world reli ic.com. Include name, address, and day as should Israel's state terrorism. gion, I found the article on Abra time telephone. Letters may be edited for ROGER GAESS ham to be brilliantly written. But clarity and space" New York, New York to give credit where credit is due, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • APRIL 2002 ~,R1r·-:· FORUM -<: -~ .~R...... ~~ i&\------1 4.: 3 8~.? - p ~, . f.:n.IIR.. ... may I suggest that the first unde ""7 ;'so isolated in their~ ( 3 0 .S t niably historic figure to proclaim ...-;--,. .... no~""• .. 1n~""1 '1"' and interests. Readd,5 ,.,... '" .,...... , monotheism, rather than assume People I felt as if I could be reading a or inherit it, was the "heretic modern version of Gibbon's pharaoh" Akhenaten. His ban enough space to Decline and Fall. I am frightened ishment of all other gods in the to think that the Silicon Valley Egyptian pantheon in favor of house thousands of lifestyle reflects that we've lost the Aten, or sun disk, earned him the sense of purpose in Ken the enmity of the religious estab bottles of wine, six nedy's "Ask not what your coun lishment. cars, and seasonal try can do for you." FRANK CARSON KNEBEL RODGER C. LEWIS San Diego, California closets to survive in Greenville, North Carolina It does seem as if we are As a high school student in branches of the same family our monoclimate .... India, I was inspired by your squabbling among ourselves. We are victims of our 1982 Silicon Valley article to L. MARGARET DYKES come and try my fortune here. Johnson City, Tennessee The new article misses the point; own success. it does not tally the achievements The Future Is Calling of the past 20 years but focuses Your map on pages 80-81 gives on the local social impact. In a good representation of world 1982 personal computers were Internet use. However, I think districts, scenic parks, open still new, there was no Internet, it misses the geographically space preserves, vibrant ethnic and the global technology boom important fact that Scandinavia, neighborhoods, and great cul was yet to happen. The wealth Iceland, and Canada have a tural institutions. We have a created and the lives influenced significantly higher percentage proud heritage that reaches far since then are astounding. The of Internet users than the beyond the founding of Hewlett revolution is no longer limited United States. Packard. to Silicon Valley; it literally spans JOHN TERPSTRA NICK PERRY the globe. Garson, Ontario Mountain View, California MALAY JALUNDHWALA San Francisco, California Silicon Valley I grew up on the border of Living in your cubicle? Being Atherton, then an affluent, Geographica homeless despite earning white-collar town but really just As I look at the toys made by the $105,000 a year? Constantly net filled with spacious ranch homes children in Indonesia, Africa, working without really getting to and a lot of regular folks. Fast and South America, I am sad know anyone? I made less than forward to the 1990s, and it has because my three grandchildren $20,000 last year, and I feel posi been turned into a town of will probably never revel in the tively rich compared with these opulent homes. People have to experience of creating "some people. Talk about the pretty have enough space to house thing from nothing." They have landscape and the nice weather thousands of bottles of wine, six everything provided for them. all you want. Silicon Valley cars, and seasonal closets to sur The children from those devel sounds like a man-made hell on vive in our monoclimate. The oping countries probably think Earth to me. ranches have been demolished at they are deprived, but they are TIMOTHY WHITE a feverish rate. People can buy the fortunate ones. They are Chicago, Illinois their way out of civic and public given the opportunity to use engagement here. We are victims their rich imaginations. Your Silicon Valley story barely of our own success. LANE SMITH CORBIN scratched the surface of the place CHARMAINE PICONE McCRYSTAL Traverse City, Michigan my family has called home for Redwood City, California four generations. This valley is WE OCCASIONALlY MAKE OlJR CUSTOMER UST AVAILABLE TO CAREAJUY SCREENED COMPANIES WHOSE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. IF YOU more than an "extended suburb I find it ironic that in trying to PREFER NmTO RECEIVE SUCH MAIUNGS, U.S. AND CANADIAN CUSTOMERS PLEASf CALL 1-800-NGS-UNE (1-800-647-5463).1NTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PlEASE of flat monotony." There are make the world interconnected, CALL +1-813-979-6845 OR WRITE: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, PO OOX 63005. TAMPA, FL 33663-3005. PLEASE INCLUDE THE ADDRESS AREA FROM YOUR thriving downtowns and historic the people of Silicon Valley are MAGAZINEWRAPPfRWHENWRmNG. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • APRIL 2002