{{short description|Afghan woman|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{distinguish|Bibi Ayesha|Asia Bibi}} {{use mdy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Bibi Aisha | birth_name = Aisha Mohammadzai | native_name = بي بي عایشه | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1991}} | birth_place = Republic of Afghanistan | other_names = Aesha Mohammadzai (legal name in the United States) | known_for = Surviving mutilation and advocating for women's rights }} '''Bibi Aisha''' ({{langx|ps|بي بي عایشه}}; ''Bibi'' is a term of respect meaning "Lady"; born '''Aisha Mohammadzai''',<ref name="CNN2012">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/16/us/aesha-surgery-healing/index.html |title=For Aesha, healing comes in many forms |publisher=CNN |date=December 20, 2012 |accessdate=February 11, 2015}}</ref> legal name in the United States: '''Aesha Mohammadzai''') is an Afghan woman who fled from an abusive marriage she was forced into as a teenager, but was caught, jailed, mutilated and left to die as revenge for her escape. She was later rescued by aid workers and her story was featured in American news as an example of the effects of the Taliban's reign of terror on women. As of 2014, she lives in Maryland as the adoptive daughter of an Afghan-American couple and has received reconstructive surgery.
== Early life == Aisha was born in 1991 into a Mohammadzai family in Afghanistan.<ref name="CNN2012" /> Her mother died when she was 2; she was sent to live with relatives shortly after.<ref name="CNN2012" /> When she was 12, her father arranged a marriage between Aisha and a Taliban fighter in a practice called ''baad'' to repay a social debt from a murder committed by a member of Aisha's family.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Grenoble|first=Ryan|date=February 27, 2013|title=Afghan Woman Who Had Nose, Ears Cut Off By Taliban Recovers|newspaper=Huffington Post|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/aesha-mohammadzai-nose-ears-taliban_n_2773994.html|accessdate=February 11, 2015}}</ref> Aisha and the man were married when she was 14.<ref name=":0" /> Her husband and his family were abusive towards Aisha; she was physically abused, treated like a servant, and forced to sleep in an outbuilding with the family's animals. <ref name="CNN2012" /><ref name=":0" /> At the age of 18, she fled the abuse, but she was caught by the police, jailed for five months, and returned to her father, who then returned her to her husband.<ref name=":0" /> As revenge for her escape, Aisha's father-in-law, husband, and three other men of the family took Aisha to the mountains, cut off her nose and ears, and left her to die. She crawled to her uncle's house but was refused help. She was finally offered asylum by her father and her grandfather who brought her to a U.S. military base.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QBeakiLzNY "Meet Aesha, a Symbol of Strength and Triumph" ABC News video (July 2014)]</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Bates|first=Karen Grigsby|date=October 13, 2010|title=Bibi Aisha, Disfigured Afghan Woman Featured On 'Time' Cover, Visits U.S.|newspaper=National Public Radio blog: The Two-Way|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/13/130527903/bibi-aisha-disfigured-afghan-woman-featured-on-time-cover-visits-u-s|url-status=live|accessdate=November 27, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112133515/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/13/130527903/bibi-aisha-disfigured-afghan-woman-featured-on-time-cover-visits-u-s|archivedate=November 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/abused-women-afghanistan-helped-secret-shelters/story?id=10074409 | title=Exclusive: The Secret Shelters That Protect Afghan Women | website=ABC News }}</ref>
==Appearances in American news== [[File:Bibi Aisha Cover of Time.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Aisha on the cover of ''Time'']] [[File:Presentación World Press Photo 2011.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The image of Aisha was shown at a World Press Photo presentation in 2011.]] Aisha's story first appeared in ''The Daily Beast'' in December 2009, which prompted many doctors to offer free help and reconstructive surgeries. The Grossmann Burn Foundation in California pledged to perform the necessary surgeries and began organizing for her visa in the spring of 2010.
In March 2010, Diane Sawyer of ABC News covered her story, which she would revisit in 2014.
Aisha was featured on the August 2010 cover of ''Time'' magazine and in the corresponding article, "Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban."<ref>{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Aryn |title=Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html |accessdate=November 27, 2010 |newspaper=Time |date=July 29, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819064843/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html |archivedate=August 19, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The cover image generated enormous international controversy.<ref name=AOL>{{cite news|title=Disfigured Afghan on Cover of Time Heads to US|url=http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/disfigured-afghan-on-cover-of-time-heads-to-us/19582078|accessdate=November 27, 2010|newspaper=AOL News|date=August 5, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022124150/http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/disfigured-afghan-on-cover-of-time-heads-to-us/19582078|archivedate=October 22, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The image and the accompanying cover title, "What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan", fueled debate about the Afghan War.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nordland |first=Ron |title=Portrait of Pain Ignites Debate Over Afghan War|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?src=mv|accessdate=November 27, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 4, 2010}}</ref> Her cover photo was taken by the South African photographer Jodi Bieber and awarded the World Press Photo Award in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|title=Top press award for photo of disfigured Afghan woman|newspaper=Reuters|accessdate=February 11, 2011|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-photography-prize-idUSTRE71A1XA20110211|first=Sara|last=Webb|date=February 11, 2011|archive-date=February 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214110618/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/us-photography-prize-idUSTRE71A1XA20110211|url-status=live}}</ref> This image of Aisha is sometimes compared to the ''Afghan Girl'' photograph of Sharbat Gula taken by Steve McCurry.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rubin|first=Elizabeth|title=Veiled Rebellion |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/afghan-women/rubin-text|accessdate=November 27, 2010|newspaper=National Geographic Magazine|date=December 2010| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101206212113/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/afghan-women/rubin-text| archivedate= December 6, 2010 | url-status= dead}}</ref>
== Life in the United States == Shortly after ''Time''{{'}}s cover in August 2010, Aisha was flown to the United States to receive free reconstructive surgery.<ref name="AOL"/> After arriving in California, she psychologically regressed into psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, panic attacks, and self-harm that required hospitalization.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} Due to the events she had been subjected to, doctors determined she was not yet stable enough for the grueling reconstructive surgery, and these traumas caused her to suffer from borderline personality disorder.<ref name="Saving Aesha">{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/05/world/saving.aesha/?hpt=hp_c2 | work=CNN | title=Saving Aesha}}</ref> While her reconstructive surgery was delayed, she was taken in by the Women for Afghan Women shelter in Queens, New York.<ref name="Saving Aesha" /> Aisha's condition improved with a change in medications, and the seizures stopped.<ref name="Saving Aesha" />
Later, Aisha's psychological condition improved enough that she was able to stop taking medications to control her behavior. Starting in 2012, preparations to do a multistage facial reconstruction for Aisha began.<ref name="Saving Aesha" /> Her forehead was expanded over the course of several months to provide enough tissue to build a new nose. The structure for her new nose was built using cartilage from her own body and tissue from her left hand was also used for the inner lining.<ref name="Saving Aesha" /> Aisha underwent a total of 12 completed surgeries.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRAokVK_R2w Video chronicling her surgery by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (Nov 2014)]</ref> In 2014 ABC News revisited Aisha and revealed how her new nose has altered her appearance.
Aisha has been adopted by an Afghan-American couple, and, as of 2014, lives in Maryland.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation|last=American Society of Plastic Surgeons ASPS|title=Patients of Courage {{!}} Bibi Aisha|date=November 4, 2014|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRAokVK_R2w|accessdate=October 17, 2017}}</ref> She studies English and mathematics and aspires to be a police officer.<ref name="Saving Aesha" />
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * [http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/05/world/saving.aesha/index.html Saving Aesha] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100731052320/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban], the cover story in ''Time'' magazine * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFblSRP82o Brutalized Afghan Woman Finds Strength] Diane Sawyer ABC News Special on Bibi Aisha * [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-28/afghanistans-unspeakable-crime/ An Unspeakable Crime], Original Daily Beast Story by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150211141553/http://grossmanburnfoundation.org/success-stories/bibi-aisha/ Grossman Burn Foundation Bibi Aisha page]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aisha, Bibi}} Category:Afghan expatriates in the United States Category:Living people Category:People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph Category:Violence against women in Afghanistan Category:Incidents of violence against women Category:Pashtun women Category:People with borderline personality disorder Category:Photography controversies Category:Pashtun people Category:1991 births Category:21st-century Afghan women Category:21st-century Afghan people Category:People without noses Category:Adoptees