The famous green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ evacuated to Italy

In an effort to evacuate Afghans following the Taliban takeover, the West returned National Geographic magazine’s green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ to Italy on Thursday, the Italian government said. Sharbat Gulla was asked to leave the country and the Italian government arranged for her evacuation, according to Mario Draghi’s office. According to the statement, the Italian government will now help her integrate into Italian society.

After war photographer Steve McCurry’s photograph of Gulla, with her piercing green eyes, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1984, she became an international sensation. She was rediscovered by McCurry in 2002. After surfacing in Pakistan in 2014, she went into hiding when authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card and ordered her deported. After being flown to Kabul, the president hosted a reception at the palace and handed her keys to her new apartment.

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After the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the Taliban takeover in August, it was one of several Western countries that airlifted hundreds of Afghans out of the country. According to a statement released by Draghi’s office to announce Gulla’s arrival in Rome, her photograph has come to ‘symbolize the vicissitudes and conflict experienced by Afghanistan during that time’.