National Geographic's green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’, Sharbat Gula, finds refuge in Italy

"Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula's startling green eyes, peering out from a headscarf with a mixture of ferocity and pain, made her known internationally. 

Rome: Italy has given safe haven to Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed "Afghan Girl" whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country's wars, Prime Minister Mario Draghi`s office said on Thursday.

The government intervened after Gula asked for help to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country in August, a statement said, adding that her arrival was part of a broader programme to evacuate and integrate Afghan citizens.

U.S. photographer Steve McCurry took the picture of Gula when she was a youngster, living in a refugee camp on the Pakistan-Afghan border.