At his inauguration on September 29, 2014, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani introduced his wife of 40 years, Rula BibiGul Ghani, to the Afghan nation, and predicted that she would soon be involved in attending to the needs of the most vulnerable among the population.
That was over seven years ago. Since then the First Lady has indeed opened the doors of her office and has received delegation after delegation from the farthest corners of the country. She sees her role as a listener, a facilitator, and an advocate. She strongly believes in women and youth’s aptitudes as agents of change and is proud of their achievements to date.
The First Lady was instrumental in initiating discussions at a national level focusing on promoting social peace and responsible citizenship. She has encouraged women and youth to explore and debate how to replace the reign of terror with the Rule of Law; how to promote mediation and conflict resolution instead of resorting to violence; how to act respectfully towards others while expecting the same respect from them; and how to assume responsibility for one’s environment whether within the family or towards the whole society.
She also has been cheering on Afghan women’s efforts in the economic field. She was instrumental in assisting young women entrepreneurs in establishing the Afghan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI) in March 2017. More recently she has been championing young business owners and the financial needs of their small and medium enterprises in the time of COVID-19.
Today, as the possibility of peace is on everybody’s mind, she proudly watches as women and youth are taking part in the debates and negotiations, clearly stating their concerns and aspirations, and warning that no peace can ever happen at the expense of the Afghan people, especially at the expense of women.The First Lady was born in Lebanon. She met her husband, President Ghani, at the American University of Beirut. She holds a Diplôme de l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1969) and two Masters, one in Political Studies (AUB, Beirut, 1976) and the other in Journalism (Columbia U, New York, 1983). In 2015, TIME magazine recognized her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.