the afgan girl

this has always been one of (it not my absolute) favorite photos ever taken. (ps - i am a national geographic addict.) some of you probably have already read this article (it came out in april 2002) but i've only found it now. her face has inspired and touched millions.

"Her eyes have captivated the world since she appeared on our cover in 1985. Now we can tell her story."

"The young Afghan refugee who stared from the cover of National Geographic in June 1985 was an enigma for 17 years. What was her name? Had she survived? This past January photographer Steve McCurry joined a crew from National Geographic Television & Film to methodically search for her. They showed her photograph around the refugee camp in Pakistan where McCurry had encountered her as a schoolgirl in December 1984. Finally, after some false leads, a man who had also lived in the camp as a child recognized her. Yes, she was alive. She had left the camp many years before and was living in the mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. He said he could find her, and three days later he and a friend brought her back to the camp. There, the remarkable story of this woman, Sharbat Gula, began to be told."

read the full article here! the above snippet was a caption to one of the photos.

and here is the original text if you want to delve deeper.

my god, her eyes are so captivating.