Western presses have wrong perspectives about Afghanistan: Rula Ghani

Afghanistan first lady, Rula Ghani says that what the Western presses write about Afghanistan and its dark situation is completely wrong.

“For the past eighteen months, there have been a lot of improvements,” especially to the country’s infrastructure, she said. “Afghanistan is not as bad as the press makes it seem.”

In an interview with New York Times, the first lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani spoke about the past and future for the country’s women.

The years of war in Afghanistan destroyed “the fabric of society,” Ghani said. “There is no more right or wrong. During a time of war … you’re in survival mode and you do sometimes horrible things you never thought you would do.” The middle class abandoned the country, leaving women especially in a “vacuum,” vulnerable to movements that stamped out their freedoms.

Born and raised in a Christian family in Lebanon, Ghani is fluent in Arabic and reads the Quran. The extremist movements, she said, are not about religion, but “much more like cults.” Last December, a young woman named Farkhunda Malikzada was beaten to death by a mob after she was falsely accused of burning the Quran. Ghani lamented the killing as “extremely unfortunate,” but noted that it had the effect of energizing women in protest. In a highly unusual move, women insisted on carrying Malikzada’s coffin themselves rather than allow men to do it. “Traditionally, women don’t even go to the cemetery,” Ghani said. “They really showed their determination.” Women have “really have been working to do things in a different way,” such as meeting mullahs and imams to discuss what Islam says about the treatment of women, she said.

Rula Ghani credits her husband, President Ashraf Ghani with working to improve life for Afghan women. Ashraf Ghani has appointed four women to serve as ministers and two as governors (one later resigned). He nominated a woman to serve on the Supreme Court, but her nomination fell short by six votes. The Afghan parliament currently includes 67 women.

When Ashraf Ghani was inaugurated in 2014, he publicly thanked his wife for her support, an unprecedented move in Afghanistan.