Afghan Girl
Photographer: Steve McCurry
Date: June 1984
Location: Nasir Bagh refugee camp, Peshawar, Pakistan
Steve McCurry photographed Sharbat Gula in 1984 at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, where she had fled with her family following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She was approximately 12 years old. McCurry noticed her striking sea-green eyes and asked permission from the teacher supervising her class to photograph her. The image appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic and became the magazine's most famous cover photograph. For nearly two decades, the girl's identity was unknown. In 2002, National Geographic launched a search, and Gula was identified through iris recognition technology. She was interviewed and photographed again by McCurry. The photograph has become one of the most recognized images in the history of photography and a symbol of the Afghan refugee crisis.
← Explore all photos on the map
