Pakistan deports National Geographic’s iconic ‘Afghan Girl’

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s president on Wednesday welcomed home Sharbat Gulla, National Geographic’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl,” just hours after she was deported from Pakistan, the latest in the odyssey of the globally recognized refugee.

Gulla’s deportation came after a regional court in the Pakistani city of Peshawar convicted her on charges of carrying a forged Pakistani ID and staying in the country illegally.

The case has drawn international attention and criticism of Pakistani authorities over their perceived harsh treatment of Gulla.

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

In 2014, she went into hiding after authorities accused her of buying fake Pakistani documents. She was arrested in late October and the Peshawar court earlier this month ordered her deported.

Earlier Wednesday, Gulla and her four children were handed over to Afghan authorities at the Torkham border crossing, about 37 miles northwest Peshawar.

From there she was flown to Kabul where President Ashraf Ghani and his wife Rula hosted a reception for Gulla at the presidential palace. Ghani also handed her keys to a fully-furnished apartment.