Pakistan arrests National Geographic's famed 'Afghan girl'

The Associated Press
October 26, 2016 at 4:20PM
FILE -- Photographer Steve McCurry poses for a portrait in New York in September 2008 with a poster of his iconic photo of the Afghan girl, Sharbat Gulla, which became one of the most famous National Geographic covers.
FILE -- Photographer Steve McCurry poses for a portrait in New York in September 2008 with a poster of his iconic photo of the Afghan girl, Sharbat Gulla, which became one of the most famous National Geographic covers. (Dennis McGrath — AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani investigator says the police have arrested National Geographic's famed green-eyed 'Afghan Girl' for having a fake Pakistani identity card.

Shahid Ilyas from the Federal Investigation Agency, says the police arrested Sharbat Gulla during a raid on Wednesday at a home in Peshawar.

Gulla was an Afghan refugee girl when she gained international fame in 1984 after war photographer Steve McCurry's photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on the cover of National Geographic. McCurry found her again in 2002, in Afghanistan.

Gulla surfaced again in Pakistan last year when authorities said she has a fake Pakistani ID card.

Ilyas says some officials were later fired for providing Gulla with the fake ID and that she has since been living in hiding to avoid arrest.

about the writer

about the writer

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
card image
Provided/Sahan Journal

Family members and a lawyer say they have been blocked from access to the bedside of Bonfilia Sanchez Dominguez, while her husband was detained and shipped to Texas within 24 hours.

card image