Rula F. Saadah Ghani (Afghan name: Bibi Gul;
born 1948) is a former
first lady of Afghanistan
First Lady of Afghanistan was the title attributed to the wife of the president of Afghanistan. Rula Ghani, wife of former President Ashraf Ghani, was the last and most recent first lady of Afghanistan from 2014 to 2021.
List of first ladies of ...
and wife of former
president of Afghanistan
The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces.
On 15 August 2021, as th ...
Ashraf Ghani
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.
Born in ...
.
In 2015, Rula Ghani was named to the
Time 100
''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, ...
, a list of the world's most influential people, by ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine.
Personal life
Rula Ghani was born Rula Saade or Roula Saadé and raised in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, in a
Lebanese Maronite Christian family. She received a diploma from
Sciences Po, France, in 1969. She completed a master's degree in Political Studies from the
American University of Beirut in 1974, where she had met her future husband,
Ashraf Ghani
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.
Born in ...
.
The couple married in 1975 and have two children: a daughter,
Mariam Ghani
Mariam Ghani (Pashto/Dari: مریم غنی; born 1978) is an Afghan-American visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and social activist.
Biography
Mariam Ghani was born in 1978 in Brooklyn, New York, of Afghan and Lebanese descent. Her father, Mo ...
, a
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
-based visual artist, and a son, Tariq. Rula Ghani earned another
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in journalism from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1983. She returned to Afghanistan in 2003.
Ghani holds citizenship in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
She reportedly speaks
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
French,
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
and
Dari
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...
.
Since 2014
At his presidential inauguration in 2014 Ghani publicly thanked his wife, acknowledging her with an Afghan name, Bibi Gul.
[ "I want to thank my partner, Bibi Gul, for supporting me and Afghanistan," said President Ghani, looking emotional. "She has always supported Afghan women and I hope she continues to do so." Historian Ali A Olomi argued in 2017 that, following the precedent of Afghanistan's Queen Soraya, Rula Ghani could help bring real change for women's rights in the country.]
As First Lady, Ghani was an advocate for women's rights.
On 15 August 2021, Ghani fled from Afghanistan with her husband, children, and two close aides as the Taliban captured Kabul; the Arg, the Afghan presidential palace, was captured a few hours later by the Taliban. On 18 August 2021, the government of the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
said that the Ghani family were in their country.
See also
* Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
* Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai
Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai (Pashto/Dari: حشمت غنی احمدزی; born October 29, 1960) commonly referred to as Hashmat Ghani, is an Afghan politician who is the Grand Council Chieftain of the Kuchis.
Early years
Ghani was born on October 29, ...
* Queens of Afghanistan
This is a list of the consorts of Afghan rulers. Historically, Afghan rulers, being Muslim, may have several wives, and not always a queen consort.
Afghanistan has only intermittently been a republic – between 1973–1992 and from 2001 onward ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghani, Rula
1948 births
Afghan Christians
Afghan expatriates in the United Arab Emirates
Afghan people of Lebanese descent
American University of Beirut alumni
American emigrants to Afghanistan
First Ladies of Afghanistan
Lebanese Maronites
Lebanese emigrants to the United States
Living people
Columbia University alumni