Green-eyed Girl In Iconic National Geographic Cover Is Arrested

Sharbat Gula, was the young girl featured in an image that became the most famous cover for National Geographic magazine in the 1980’s.

The photograph, which shows Gula’s piercing green eyes, was taken by photographer Steve McCurry at a Pakistan refugee camp during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Gula, who is much older today, was arrested by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for fraud following a two-year investigation on her and her husband, who has absconded.

An FIA official told AFP, “FIA arrested Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman, for obtaining a fake ID card.”

Gula could be facing a 14 year prison sentence and a fine as high as $5,000 if convicted. Most Afghans have avoided such sentences and were instead deported.

According to officials, Gula applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi. The photo on her application had the same bright green eyes in McCurry’s photo of her.

National Database Registration Authority officials have detected 60,675 fraudulent ID cards out of 91 million so far.