I "Dare to Explore": The Story Behind the Search for the Afghan Girl

Her face will never be forgotten. In June 1985 her haunting green eyes peered out from the cover of National Geographic Magazine. She was a girl of no more than 12, living in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan. She would soon become the face of the war within Afghanistan, just as Anne Frank became the face of the Holocaust. The world was captivated. And yet, her identity was a mystery. She came to be known simply as the “Afghan Girl,” and her picture was everywhere.

Photographer Steve McCurry spent years in Afghanistan photographing the Afghan peoples struggle. He captured the image of the “Afghan Girl” after walking by a tent, serving as a school, in a refugee camp when the young girl’s eyes caught his attention. Gaining permission from her teacher, McCurry took the “Afghan Girl’s” picture using the natural sunlight coming in the tent flap. He never knew her name. For years after that, the “Afghan Girl” haunted Steve McCurry. “I can’t get those images out of my mind,” he said. “I don’t think a day has gone by since I took that picture, I haven’t gotten a letter, a phone call asking for [her] information.” McCurry has looked for the “Afghan Girl” before, but his search had never been successful. But this time around, all that will change.

When the identity “Afghan Girl” was revealed, the story made headlines. Search for the Afghan Girl follows Steve McCurry’s journey to rediscover the young girl he met in the refugee camp so many years ago. In spite the story’s potential for a great deal of emotional content, the producers of Afghan Girl keep the show straightforward and simple. The w

riting is short and to the point. The video flows smoothly from scene to scene, no fancy cuts, no flashy editing. Search for the Afghan Girl utilizes the epic story of McCurry and the young girl to tell the bigger story of Afghanistan’s seemingly endless struggle.

Search for the Afghan Girl is highly informative, and deeply poignant. It’s a story that could easily have run as a news special, but it’s also a story that can bring tears to your eyes, the way a tale of hope and dreams almost always do.

*Images from National Geographic.com

My Rating: