(Source: nationalgeographicdaily)
REBLOGS
“Had she ever seen the photograph of herself as a girl? ‘No.’ Names have power, so let us speak of hers. Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun, that most warlike of Afghan tribes. It is said of the Pashtun that they are only at peace when they are at war, and her eyes—then and now—burn with ferocity. She is 28, perhaps 29, or even 30. No one, not even she, knows for sure. Stories shift like sand in a place where no records exist. Time and hardship have erased her youth. Her skin looks like leather. The geometry of her jaw has softened. The eyes still glare; that has not softened. “She’s had a hard life,” said McCurry. “So many here share her story.” Consider the numbers. Twenty-three years of war, 1.5 million killed, 3.5 million refugees: This is the story of Afghanistan in the past quarter century. It is the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan. Invasion. Resistance. Invasion. Will it ever end? ‘Each change of government brings hope,’ said Yusufzai. ‘Each time, the Afghan people have found themselves betrayed by their leaders and by outsiders professing to be their friends and saviors.’”
Photograph by Steve McCurry
National Geographic
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(Source: beexciting)
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(Source: nationalgeographicdaily)
(Source: nationalgeographicdaily)
