Tragic Time cover girl Aesha is just weeks from completing series of painful surgeries to give her a new nose after she was mutilated by her Taliban husband

Road to recovery: Within just a few short months, doctors will finally finish reconstruction on Aesha Mohammadzi's nose

Within just a few short months, Aesha Mohammadzi will be able to look at her reflection in the mirror and feel whole again.
Mohammadzi, 22, has made international headlines in 2010 when she appeared on the now-iconic cover of Time magazine with a gaping wound in the center of her face where a nose should be.
Aesha's tragic tale of mutilation and abuse is well known by now: her Taliban husband and his family chopped off her nose and ears to punish her for trying to escape the family compound in Afghanistan.
The girl was left for dead in the mountains, but survived and was brought for treatment to an American military base. A charity organization eventually helped bring Aesha to the US, where she was taken in by an Afghan family from Maryland, CNN reported.
Over the past year, the raven-haired, vivacious young woman has undergone a serious of painful surgeries and treatments that have set the stage for Aesha getting a new nose. 
'It was very difficult in the beginning, but then i got used to it,' Aesha told CNN.
Now, Mohammadzi is only a few minor procedures away from her dream becoming a reality. This summer, the 22-year-old will have a new face, but she will still have many challenges ahead of her.

Painful process: Aesha, 22, has spent the past 11 months undergoing surgeries and treatments, bringing her closer to a new nose

Back in Afghanistan, Aesha was not allowed to attend school and as a teenager was forced into marriage by her father, serving as a peace offering to the family of her new husband to make up for her uncle's transgressions.
In 2011, Mohammadzi arrived in the US unable to read or write in any language. While her adoptive family, the Arsaias, say that the 22-year-old is a bright girl, they admit that she can be impulsive and easily distracted, preferring to work on her line of jewelery or watch movies on her laptop rather than study her ABCs.
Aesha has been living with Mati Arsaia, his wife Jamila Rasouli-Arsaia and their daughter since November 2012, nearly two years after she arrived in the US.
She told CNN that people in Maryland often laugh at her because of her nose, but she responds to questions about what happened to her with: 'it's none of your business.'
Her first few months in the US Aesha had spent in California preparing for reconstructive surgery, which ended up being scrapped because she was deemed too emotionally volatile.

Left for dead: At age 19, Aesha's Taliban husband and in-laws hacked off her nose and ears as punishment for fleeing their home in Afghanistan

Long journey: Mohammadzi was brought to the US in 2011,  but had to wait for over a year before doctors began working on her nose

Regression: Those who helped Aesha in the US said she could be difficult, childish and impulsive

She then spent several months in New York at a group home for Afghan women, where she was offered therapy and English classes, before finally moving to Frederick, Maryland, to live with the Arsaias.
Her first surgery took place last June, making it her first step towards getting a new nose. Over the past 11 months, Aesha had the skin on her forehead expanded to provide doctors with additional tissue for her new nose.
Surgeons at Walter Reed Medical Center, where the 22-year-old patient has been treated free of charge, also had to take skin, bone and cartilage grafts from various parts of her body in preparation for her reconstructive surgery.

New family: Aesha (far left) has been living in Maryland with her surrogate parents, Jamila Rasouli-Arsaia (second left), her husband, Mati Arsaia (right), and their daughter

New hurdles: Aesha has stopped taking English classes, and she spends her days watching Bollywood films late into the night and making jewelry instead of working on her education

To avoid the risk of contracting an infection, Aesha has been staying indoors, which led her to stop going to her weekly English classes. These days, she stays up late at night watching Bollywood films and sleeps during the day.
In the coming months, Mohammadzi's nose will be complete, at which point doctors will be able to move on to her mutilated ears.
Aesha's surrogate parents say that they want to give her more time to heal both physically and emotionally, but once her face is whole again, Aesha will have to move forward and forge her own path in her adoptive country.

New face: Aesha Mohammadzai, who became a symbol of the oppression of women in Afghanistan after fleeing the war-torn country, shows off the results of her reconstructive surgery

Aesha's wounds are healing, but she lives with the scars of an ordeal few could imagine

As part of Aesha's life-changing treatment, her forehead has ballooned and dark, drooping flesh covered the space where her nose once was - before her husband sliced it off.
Doctors placed an inflatable silicone shell under the skin of her forehead and gradually filled it with fluid in order to expand her skin and provide them with extra tissue for her new nose.
They have also taken tissue from her forearm and transplanted it to her face to form the inner lining and lower part of the nose.
Aesha's wounds are healing, but she lives with the scars of an ordeal few could imagine. Speaking for the first time on television to ITV's Daybreak in February, she told the story behind that Time photograph.
She said: 'Every day I was abused by my husband and his family. Mentally and physically. Then one day it became unbearable so I ran away.
'They caught me and put me in jail for five months. When I came out the judge sent me back to my husband. That night they took me to the mountains.

Brave Time cover girl Aesha Mohammadzai, pictured with her American family, reveals new nose after reconstructive surgery on ITV's Daybreak show

Smiling: Aesha Mohammadzai looked relaxed and happy on Daybreak speaking with Louisa James

Proud: Aesha Mohammadzai, whose plight was highlighted in Time in 2010, has had reconstructive surgery to her nose

'They tied my hands and my feet. They said my punishment was to cut my nose and ears. And then they started to do it.'
Aesha, who has never attended school or celebrated her birthday, now lives in America. Helped out of Afghanistan by a charity, she now has a new family who care for her as one of their own.
Aesha said she is 'happy' with her new nose and wants her experience to tell a new story, this time one of hope.
She said: 'I want to tell all women who are suffering abuse to be strong. Never give up and don’t lose hope.'
Aesha’s story was first told in August 2010 by Time magazine, who published a harrowing cover photo of her - horrifying people around the world and symbolizing the oppression of Afghan women.
When she 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.
The UN estimates that nearly 90 per cent of Afghanistan's women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse.
But when Aesha attempted to flee, she was caught and her nose and ears were hacked off by her husband as punishment. Left for dead in the mountains, she crawled to her grandfather's house.

Facing reality: Aisha's photo was on the front cover of Time Magazine in August 2010

On the mend: Aesha Mohammadzai pictured six months into the reconstructive surgery to her nose

Doctors put a silicone shell under skin in her forehead to expand tissue that was then used to build her new nose

Terrifying: Aesha's nose and ears were sliced off by her abusive husband as she tried to escape their home

'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.

Recovery: Bibi Aisha (pictured with a prosthetic nose in Beverly Hills, California, in October 2010) moved to the U.S. after fleeing Afghanistan

AESHA'S NOSE RECONSTRUCTION

In December, Aesha underwent a fourth operation, lasting eight hours, at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.

Surgeons said the procedure marks the halfway stage in their work and they can complete the reconstruction this year.

During the operation, doctors placed an inflatable silicone shell under the skin of her forehead and gradually filled it with fluid in order to expand her skin and provide them with extra tissue for her new nose.

They have also taken tissue from her forearm and transplanted it to her face to form the inner lining and lower part of the nose.

Previous patients who have had this type of reconstructive surgery have also had tissue transplanted tissue from the forehead - because it is the same tone, unlike other areas of the body.

Louisa James, the Daybreak reporter who interviewed Aesha, said she had now completed the major surgery she required, and she would now undergo a series of minor nose operations to modify it and make it look as normal as possible.

She is then expected to undergo surgery on her ears.

They then transported Aesha to a secret shelter in Kabul and in August 2010, she was flown to the U.S. by the Grossman Burn Foundation to stay with a host family.
She was taken in by a charity in New York called Women for Afghan Women who supported her and helped pay for her eduction.
But Aesha soon became unhappy and her behavior gave rise to concern. During one outburst during, she threw herself to the floor and slammed her head against the ground, grabbing at her hair and biting her fingers.
Her primary guardian figure at the center Esther Hyneman, who witnessed the tantrum said no one was able to prevent her from inflicting the injuries and they had to call 911 for help, Ms Hyneman  said during the CNN interview.
Nowadays, Aesha still prefers watching Bollywood films rather than American TV.
She arrived in Maryland 16 months after she came to the U.S. and had spent time in California and New York.
Aesha was treated at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, which was arranged for her by the office of outgoing U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland.
Couple Mati and Jamila Arsala have been caring for Aesha in Maryland, and they have a 15-year-old daughter in Miena Ahmadzai, who has become good friends with her adopted older sister.

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