It has been almost two years since Aesha Mohammadzai arrived in America having been brutally ortured in Afghanistan by her husband.



He hacked off her nose and ears after she tried to escape their abusive forced marriage leaving her mentally traumatised and horrifically disfigured.

With the move to the United States came the promise of reconstructive surgery but it has been delayed as she battles with the psychological torment of her ordeal, and of leaving her homeland for a country where she speaks very little of the language.



Touching: Aesha (right) has found a close friend in Miena Arsala, the daughter of the family caring for her

Aesha is expected to undergo six operations, over the course of the next two years, the first of which took place on Thursday morning at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, CNN reported.

It began the process of expanding the skin in her forward for future use in rebuilding her nose.

Aesha’s treatment at the military centre was secured by U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett and his office. He said: ‘People know we take care of wounded soldiers.



‘That's kind of an obligation; what else could you do?' he told CNN . 'But this – you don't have to do this. It puts a real human face on our military. How can your heart not go out to Aesha?’

The 22-year-old was accompanied to the hospital by Mati and Jamila Arsala, a couple who have been caring for her. They have set up a website called Aesha’s Journey where messages of support and donations can be posted.



Speaking before the operation Aesha told the news site: ‘I'm not scared. I'm happy. I suffered a lot in my life. Now I feel that a light comes into my life.’

The Arsala’s have a 14-year-old daughter, Miena, in whom Aesha has found a close friend.

Resilient: Aesha Mohammadzai relaxes at her new home in America where she is building a new life Miena said of her adopted sister: ‘I'm pretty sure, once she gets all her surgery, she'll have a lot of guys drooling.’ The family reported that the first operation was a success, but they have apprehensions for what is to come. Aesha will face looking far worse before she begins to look better, and the surgeries will bring about severe pain and discomfort.

The young girl’s story was first told by Time magazine, who published a harrowing photograph of her on the front page, horrifying people around the world.

In 2011 she won political asylum in the U.S where she had fled a year earlier. She was given a prosthetic nose, but full plastic surgery had to be delayed because it was thought she was still not yet emotionally stable to cope with the painful and lengthy surgery required. Those who close to spoke of her displaying volatile mood swings – oscillating between violent tantrums and displaying deep affection to people around her. Beginning the surgery is a sign of just how far Aesha has come.

Brave: Aisha, now 22, 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

Psychologist Shiphra Bakhchi, 31, who has helped treat the 22-year-old for post-traumatic stress disorder believes the trauma of her disfigurement may have caused deeper mental scars than physical ones. ‘I really hope at some point she’ll be a functioning young lady that had a terrible trauma,’ the private practitioner told CNN . When Aesha 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. When she attempted to flee, she was caught and her nose and ears were hacked off by her husband as punishment. '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.



New beginning: Before the surgery was able to begin Aisha was fitted with a prosthetic nose



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 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 behaviour 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 centre 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.



Recovering: Aisha has received counselling following her traumatic experiences

Aesha was admitted to hospital for 10 days following that episode.



Those who knew her said Aesha craved the close-knit family environment the centre was unable to provide.

She left in December 2011, to live with with Mati Arsla and Jami Rasouli-Arsala, from Fredrick, Maryland - who are relatives of a Women for Afghan Women former board member - where she now appears to be adapting to home life.

Ms Hyneman - who Aesha affectionately used to call 'grandma' - told CNN : ‘When she first came to us, she was an emotional wreck.

‘By the time she left, she was a different human being... So we’re all happy if she’s in the right place to further her development, but we miss her.’

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

During the momentous few years since arriving in America, Aesha has 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 Aesha a more 'permanent solution', which 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 Aesha was just one of the thousands of women who are treated with appalling harshness.