Sharbat Gula
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 9, 2016
The famed green-eyed Afghan girl who featured on the cover of National Geographic has met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after arriving in the capital, Kabul.
Sharbat Gula, now in her 40s, was welcomed by Ghani at a reception at the presidential palace after she and her four children were deported from Pakistan on November 8.
Afghan presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi said Ghani handed Gula keys to a house that had been arranged in Kabul for her and her children to live in.
A Pakistani court convicted Gula of possessing forged identity papers. She was arrested late in October in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
She received a 15-day jail term, a fine of 110,000 rupees (about $1,100), and was ordered to be deported back to Afghanistan.
Gula was driven to the Torkham border crossing by Pakistani officials and handed over to Afghan authorities late on November 8.
Gula’s 1985 photograph on the cover of National Geographic magazine became a symbol of Afghanistan during war in the 1980s.
Based on reporting by dpa and Tolo News
Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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