Sharbat Gula, Subject Of Iconic 'National Geographic' Photo, Will Travel To India

Afghan refugee Sharbat Gula (center) will get free medical care in India. She seen here arriving with her son at the Presidential Palace in Kabul before meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Wednesday.

Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images

Days after she was deported from Pakistan to her native Afghanistan, the woman whose piercing green-eyed stare landed a spot on the cover of National Geographic will next travel to India for medical care.

That's the news from Shaida Abdali, Afghanistan's ambassador to India, who said via Twitter that Sharbat Gula "will soon be in India for medical treatment free of cost."

Gula, who's in her 40s, suffers from hepatitis C, according to her lawyer and multiple news outlets. She's now poised to travel to Bangalore to receive treatment, according to Afghan news agency Khaama Press.

After fleeing Afghanistan as a young child, Gula spent decades in Pakistan before being arrested and charged with having falsified identity papers. When she arrived in Afghanistan Wednesday, she and her family were greeted by President Ashraf Ghani.

As Rebecca Hersher reported for the Two-Way earlier this week, "Under a plan announced in Brussels in October, potentially tens of thousands of Afghans will be sent to Afghanistan from the European Union — so many people that the agreement notes both sides are considering whether to build a dedicated terminal for them all at Kabul International Airport."