The smile that defies the Taliban: Afghan teenager whose
mutilated face shocked the world unveils her new image
An Afghan teenager who was
horribly mutilated by her husband under Taliban rule was all smiles
as she unveiled her new prosthetic nose for the first
time.
Aisha, 19, shocked the world when
she appeared on the cover of Time Magazine to lift the veil on the
plight of many women in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, she bravely faced
the public wearing a prosthetic nose - one that gives her some idea
of how she will look after having reconstructive
surgery.
Brave: Aisha, 19, pictured wearing a type of prosthetic nose
often used by film actors. Her nose and ears were hacked off by
brutal in-laws after she was promised in marriage aged 12
She went before the TV cameras
to receive the Enduring Heart award at a benefit for the Grossman
Burn Foundation - the Los Angeles-based organisation that paid for
her surgery.
She was given the award by
California first lady Maria Shriver.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife
told the audience: 'This is the first Enduring Heart award given to
a woman whose heart endures and who shows us all what it means to
have love and to be the enduring heart.'
Aisha, whose surname has not
been revealed, replied: 'Thank you so much.'
When Aisha was 12, her father
promised her in marriage to a Taliban fighter to pay a debt. She
was handed over to his family who abused her and forced her to
sleep in the stable with the animals.
When she attempted to flee,
she was caught and her nose and ears were hacked off by her husband
as punishment.
New beginning: Aisha has a prosthetic nose fitted using a special
adhesive. She will eventually have reconstructive surgery
'When they cut off my nose and
ears, I passed out. In the middle of the night it felt like there
was cold water in my nose.
'I opened my eyes and I
couldn't even see because of all the blood,' she told CNN reporter
Atia Abawi.
Left for dead in the
mountains, she crawled to her grandfather's house and her father
managed to get her to an American medical facility, where medics
cared for her for ten weeks.
They then transported Aisha to
a secret shelter in Kabul and in August she was flown to the U.S.
by the Grossman Burn Foundation to stay with a host
family.
This month, she had a
prosthetic nose fitted at the non-profit humanitarian Grossman Burn
Center at West Hills Hospital in California as part of her eight-month
rehabilitation.
Dr Peter H Grossman said they
hoped to give Aisha a more 'permanent solution'.
This could mean reconstructing
her nose and ears using bone, tissue and cartilage from other parts
of her body.
Dr Grossman's wife Rebecca,
the chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, said Aisha was just one
of the thousands of women who are treated with appalling
harshness.
She said: 'Aisha is reminded
of that enslavement every time she looks in the mirror. But there
are still times she can laugh. And at that moment you see her
teenage spirit escaping a body that has seen a lifetime of
injustice.'
Recovering: Aisha has received counselling following her
traumatic experiences
The UN estimates that nearly
90 per cent of Afghanistan's women suffer from some sort of
domestic abuse.
However, the Taliban have
released a statement rejecting this.
'The Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan rejects this fabrication by the Americans, who are
publishing these lies to divert attention of the people from their
clear and disgraceful defeat,' said a spokesman.
'In sacred Islamic law,
cutting off human ears and noses whether the human is alive or dead
is illegal and prohibited.'
Facing reality: Aisha's photo was on the front cover of Time
Magazine in August 2010