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From carrying out completely the missions that he has been tasked with. Is that correct . Yes sir. My greatest concern of sequestration would be the impact on the workforce, particularly the civilians. They would argue what i want to be aligned with that. I can replace equipment. It takes years to replace people. There is a real likelihood, if we continue the sequestration that you will not be able to continue to employ these outstanding and highly selected individuals yes. Sometimes, i do not want the American People to see what goes on at these hearings. I certainly wish the American People could hear and see your statements that youre making today rather than thats just what democracies are all about. And so i thank you for your good work but also want to thank you for your straightforward answers to questions that were posed by the members of this committee. And we thank you. The meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations]. Ible con. [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] ,. [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] and i am convinced that there is an opportunity for this country if the International Community maintains its commitment. And im also convinced there should be no further reductions in u. S. And International Forces and support for afghanistan until conditions on the ground and afghan capabilities make that possible. Consistently reminded over the course of my career of the importance of the individual in history. The occasion when the right person excep is at the right tid place to influence developments large or small, and rula ghani is one of those people. On april 6 she take takes the se at the annual women of the world, women in the world summit in new york city. The summit tagline is meet the women who change the world. Shes helping to change her adopted countrys history, afghanistan is fortunate to have for in the right time and place. So please join me in welcoming the first lady, rula ghani. [applause] thank you, jim, for these very kind words. I have a little trouble remembering the time as first lady. I havent changed. Ive always been what i am, and im comfortable with it, and i hope you will be, too. In the name of god the compassionate, the merciful, distinguished members of the audience, i come to you in peace. Thats what that means. By inviting me to address the select gathering of thoughtful and influential movers and shakers, men and women him at the Atlantic Council at its afghanistan writing initiatives are honoring me get and i would like to thank fred kempe, jim cunningham, and Zalmay Khalilzad for their warm welcome. Thank you also to you, members of the audience, for taking the time to come and listen to me. Listening is something that i myself do a lot in afghanistan. When i first decided to fully assume the responsibilities of first lady some 18 months ago, i was entering uncharted waters. I had no specific agenda, but that of serving the people, especially the vulnerable ones. That meant that i had to get to know them better and understand their grievances. Hence, the open door policy of my office. In the first six to eight months, groups after groups have come to see me, pouring out their hearts and sharing their concerns. Some came from the provinces, others from kabul. A few are civil servants. No, and then, of course, the four women ministers. Others are social activists or entrepreneurs. To this date, the flow is constant. I listen to my advisors who report to me daily, enthusiastic, hardworking women slightly younger than i am who deeply care for their country, who still remember how beautiful and strong it was 40 years ago, who are determined to help rebuild its society, and who strongly believe in the capabilities of the afghan people. I also listen to the International Community. Some of you are here today and can vouch for it, from u. N. Agencies to embassies to eight institutions, usaid, to ngos and even to individuals. Im thinking, for example, of paschal, the french lady who is bent on creating a virtual Cultural Museum for afghanistan. I love their dynamism, though i sometimes chaff after their bureaucracy. All this to say in a roundabout way, that the information i am presenting to you with the first and, actual, and representative. It might not reflect what you read in journalistic or even in some expert accounts. I was struck by a comment i was reading on yahoo two days ago under ongoing political debate on terrorism from Susan Hessler who is a former cia factchecking analyst, and she recently wrote, people make the most incendiary and irresponsible claims as stating indisputable facts, hardly anyone will tell you where they got their information. Repetition and volume try to take the place of verification. I would choose word for word her observation to describe the reporting on afghanistan these days. So you know where i stand now their journalists are so much trying to be the first to scoop the story while trying to write it in its more sensational and entertaining version. That i hardly have time to check their facts. Witness the article in the Washington Post two days ago. There were so many facts that were wrong, like so many people who are mentioned as being members of the administration that have defected. They used to be members of the former administration, so its really not telling the story the way it is. So repeated halftruths take a life of their own from a special on social media. And suddenly become conventional wisdom. The result today is an existence of several myths that need to be debunked. Myth number one, the taliban are winning. Really . And white visit we keep hearing about the same 600 meters in helmand being lost and regained every other week or every other month . And why is it that the leader cannot claim to be what we need . The fact is that they do not fully control in a territory to be able to make that claim. And by the way, i do want to ask this question. Who is the institute for the study of four that produces maps to the contrary . I really would like to know because their information is totally skewed. America has lost the war. Thats a myth number two. What more . American came into a hunt down Osama Bin Laden which was done. To my knowledge american is not at war with the afghan people. Am i right . America has failed in afghanistan, myth number three. Wasnt americas and to help rebuild the country and help it on its way to achieving political stability lacks wasnt that peaceful succession from president karzai to president ghani the sign up political maturity . Myth number four, the electoral process in 2014 was fraudulent. How can you still insist on that when the u. N. Commission carried on three different recounts, and im talking about total recounts, over two months and was unable to discover the alleged fraud on an industrial scale. They did find some irregularities, and they find them in both camps, and the numbers were reduced by 1 . So again the article in the Washington Post told about legitimizing the government. This is a legitimate government, and if you dont believe in elections, maybe the u. S. Should stop talking about democracy, because democracy is believing in the voice of the people and what they say. I dont know which number this other meth. There are quite a few. The unity government is not working. I ask, when Angela Merkel took over six months to put together her unity government, nobody in the world why should they differ in the case of afghanistan . It takes time to create a unity government. Afghanistan is falling apart economically. Well, maybe they mean that the pockets of the previous bureaucratic and political elite are no longer bulging with illgotten money. In my book, less corruption should be considered progress. The present Afghan Government is inefficient and disorganized. Well, it takes time to clean up years of neglect and absence of management. It takes even more time to set up a Solid Foundation of which to build the reforms. Let this keep an open mind for a year or so. Decides, in the u. S. Ipp reef that are already reporting collection of revenue has already increased by 22 in 2015. If anything this is not a sign of disorganization. Afghan men and uncivilized lot eliteracy does not mean lack of culture. This is something people in the west have hard time to understand. It is what you call of culture and it can be deeply ingrained in people. Afghan Traditional Society is highly cultured or of course this is seldom the case for warlords and mercenaries, but isnt that true in most postconflict situations . And again it takes time to replace the reign of violence with the rule of law. And the government is hard at work reforming the Justice System. Afghan women are worse off than before any peace with the taliban will be made at their expense, or its alternative, women have no say in peace negotiations. Ive heard that so many times. Lets get the record straight. The number two on the High Peace Council is no other than the former governor of a problem, no shrinking violets. Another woman is also on the negotiating team, head of the all important afghan women network. Women are taking part in the Peace Process and at the highest levels. Besides, president ghani himself has repeatedly declared in public speeches that the issue of womens rights is nonnegotiable. I was not be surprised if some of you would want to ask the question regarding several of the preceding points i would be an glad to engaging in the question and answer session. It to you more about the topic close to my heart, the women of afghanistan. As i mentioned at the beginning there is a constant stream of women who come to see me. Lately, ive noticed an increasing number of upbeat accounts. Of course, we are far from having solved all the problems and challenges. It has been only a year since the barbaric tragedy in kabul, and even less sense the stoning in lahore, just to name a few cases of violence against women. But the women of afghanistan did not take this lying down and have raised their voices against all this violence. One of the results of their efforts has been the creation with the help of the ministry of womens affairs, of an Emergency Fund dedicated to the victims of violence that will help cover the expenses, especially their legal and medical ones. Another has been the holding of several meetings and conferences with religious scholars as counterparts to discuss what is the place of women in islam and to clarify any misconceptions. And believe me, youd be surprised as to how many injunctions in holy koran preached respect for women and equal treatment of women and men. One very Important Development in our country since the new government came to power 18 months ago has been to greater participation of women in public affairs. We now have four women ministers, all for very active and effective. Our Foreign Service now counts three women and counts three women of us it is, simply before. We almost had her first woman judge at the Supreme Court. Either way, did you know that we have over 250 women judges in afghanistan, or as some of our neighbors do not have even one . Many more women have been joining the civil service. Some of them in responsible positions such as the deputy ministers. The police are aiming at recruiting 5000 women and have already passed the halfway mark. The army has identified positions that are exclusively to be filled by women, also declared some of the positions to be open to both women and men, and so on and so on. In other words, the present and is actively pursuing the integration of women in its decisionmaking processes. Added a cabinet level level a commission for gender policy led by the Vice President and attended by representatives of several ministries has been busy looking into the gender unity of all ministries come every ministry has again taken at which you call your equal opportunity commission. Agenda sensitivity of all official rules and policy. The ongoing reform of the Justice System is also benefiting women. A special division of the Supreme Court is now dedicated to cases of violence against women and children. And is headed by one of the Supreme Court judges. This has ensured special attention and higher speed in resolving those cases. One such case is that which is being carefully examine. Also a special commission of the Supreme Court has been reviewing the cases of every imprisoned woman. Antedate, 95 women have been released or pardoned, and 42 have seen their sentences reduced. New regulations regarding harassment at the workplace were issued in september 2015. The criminal court is being amended so that women running away from home are no longer automatically considered criminals and sent to jail. Here again, the more adjustments are still needed, but the Justice System is definitely becoming increasingly fair towards women. And i could go on and on about the women friendly policies that are being implemented by the ministry of womens affairs, agriculture, of Rural Development and of labor and social affairs. Following the guidelines of the official National Women Economic Empowerment plan. My own team of advisers has also had their share in bringing improvement to the condition of women in afghanistan. In the health field one major a competent has been the formation of an afghan cancer association, bringing together all existing health care for specials under the auspices of the Public Health ministry to set up a unified policy towards the fight against cancer with an emphasis on breast and cervical cancer. Similarly, office has supported a Campaign Launched iv counternarcotics ministry. It is help in establishing a Treatment Center for addicts. For those of you who have been to afghanistan at the time it was called the phoenix camp. We now call it the center of hope, center for hope. With one special hospital dedicated to the treatment of 300 women addicts. So it will not surprise you if i conclude today with a message of hope. The hope that i see on the basis of the women who come to visit with me, the hope that these women are slowly regaining control of their destiny, the hope that the protections afforded to them by the afghan constitution is gaining momentum, the hope that they can become active participants in their countries social, economic, and political life. Hope that they can dream again for a Better Future for them and their families. Nowhere is this message of hope stronger than in the lives of the rising generations. We have terrific young women coming up. I see it in a woman with a starting load of barely 1700, the equivalent of 40 around there. She found the way to start three small businesses, opened the high school and buy a piece of land on which shields to build a pasta factory. Thats ambition. I see it in the contemporary the acutely aware of the educational aspirations of girls from the provinces, because girls in kabul and other urban centers have education. But in the provinces its still very difficult. She is finding so many ways to provide them with opportunities for learning in kabul and abroad. She gets some scholarships here in the states, the academy in jordan. She sent some i think in, i think its singapore, im not quite sure. And was about to develop a dream of opening a boarding secondary and high school for them in the capital of kabul. I see it in another of the contemporary nuggets. She founded her own ngo in order to be of help to the community. Attending to those in need, and to singlehandedly managed to a company 20 handicap children to india where she had arranged for the treatment. And came back with 17 of them now able to walk. It was wonderful to see those little guys coming back to the airport. I see it in leila who, after soviets of taking care of her brother who was addicted to drugs, decided to open a shelter where 40 actors are passionate addicts are attending and whos running a small restaurant in order to cover her expenses. I see it in another mba graduate from the American University in afghanistan who after some years of helping University Student in the department of economics start their own business. Its not about to start a venture herself that covers the whole process of production of four threads and carpets in order to grade 5000 jobs to women in afghan provinces. If this is not hope, what is . Thank you. [applause] thank you very much more that clear and forceful statement. I want to thank my friend, fred, and my friend, jim, for their welcome of you, and add my own words of welcome. For the audience so that in the picture, i have known president ghani for a very long time, since we were in high school together. In fact, when we were going to come to the United States as high school students, we went to the American Embassy together to get a visa. And in filling the application for that visa, first name, last name. And i did not know what the last name meant. Because as you know, most afghans have just a first thing. So the president , dr. Ghani, was next to me so he was a little more were believed that i was at that time because i had just come from kabul and he was a resident of kabul for a long time. And so i asked for his advice, what is this lasting . So he explained to me that your father same is how lille, which it was, my father is dead now and so immediately we made my last name on the spot. Which ha is served well by thank them for that. And we have been interacting for a very long time, and in beirut were both dr. Ghani and i were students, the president met his future wife. With that background, i wanted to start the conversation. We have about 50 minutes or so, and give ample time to the audience, but ask a couple of questions if i might. And one is that you have been quoted by the ig, the inspector general, expressing your view with regard to the Development Activities or investments that have been made or the monies that have been spent on development projects. Concern that the past passion with regard to legacy project that the United States had with regard to women, that that past pattern of holding conferences, giving certificates, contracting and subcontracting would not be repeated. I would be interested, and im sure the audience would be interested, to know your view of the Lessons Learned and how should, going forward, the expenditures of focus on the development, generally, or women project in particular should be carried out. Yes. I remember seeing the is this working . Yes. I remember seeing the quote in a sigar report, and i was talking at the launch of the promote program, which you know is a five year program that usaid has started for helping afghan women. And the program had not yet started but i kind of raised the concern that this program should not repeat the mistakes of the past. Because, indeed, there has been a lot of projects, a lot of congress, a lot of ngos come a lot of International Aid agencies that have come and spend money in afghanistan. But those people who have participated in those projects, more often than not, have had probably, took part in workshops or two weeks and then ended up the workshop with a nice design document that they can frame and put on their wall in their home. And nothing else, no followup, no trying to use their new skills if ever they acquired their new skills. Because sometimes it was the case they didnt really learn much. And so i wanted to tell, and that is a little tongue in cheek to promote people, at peace make sure that youre doing something thats substantial, but you are training people, you are doing training so they can carry on after your training and do something substantial. Thank you. You in your statement you mentioned the progress that afghanistan is made, and one area that a lot of progress has been made impacting also limit is the spread of telecommunication, which covers not almost all of afghanistan from very few phones. I remember when i went there first after 9 11 taking satellite phones to distribute it may be now 17, 18 million cell phones. And to what extent that success can be used, which also includes lots of women having the means to communicate now, to address some of the areas where more progress is needed, whether its in the area of only of education, whether its in the area of Economic Empowerment of women to include the more than the economy . Phones are a tool, and its true that ambassador khalilzad is saying that we now have phones all over afghanistan. And we have phones, a lot of people also have smart phones which means they can access things on the internet. Phones have been used. Phones have been used. I know of an organization that uses them for later see progra programs. And they have done it later see in the more classical way of having a classroom and teaching people how to read and write. But when they started doing it on the phones, it was much faster. And women would learn in the months or less than a month. And the reason is that they had a motivation. They wanted to be able to use their phone to send messages. So they knew that deskilled are going to learn, theyre going to be able to apply immediately, and this is maybe the secret of the success. You have to teach people things they need to learn so that they can improve. Phones, i know of a group of poets and writers, mostly when i talk about groups are usually women. These were women, and they communicate, they come and meet in kabul once or twice a year to they dont have much money it they dont get money from anyone, but they communicate with each other by phone, and sometimes if some member was not able to come to the meeting, they would put the phone on speaker phone and she would be in her village, wherever she is, and she will be reading, for example, a poem that she has written. And she would be reading it aloud and they would discuss it to her and tell her what they thought she did well, what they thought she didnt do well. So it really has come together to say yes, phones are really important. And phones are now dashing everybody has a fun. Even the coke or the driver. You need a phone to be able to function in kabul. And i think the phone, as afghanistan leapfrogged not having line phones to cell phones, and area that ive been thinking about is whether this Digital Technology generally can be an instrument for addressing some of the other issues, particularly with regard to the quality of education or with regard to Financial Inclusion where we see significant results in parts of africa like kenya on digital finance. Cant afghanistan benefit from the infrastructure thats developing with regard to Cell Phone Technology to address some of the other issues of development . I think, i can think know of other examples. Im not involved in this, so as the details come back to my mind, phones are now being tested to pay people, to pay them directly instead of going to intermediaries we could cut down on a lot of corruption. Phones are used by traders to find out, you know, if someone is trading in wall and is in one province, wall either by calling people are looking up the internet they can see what is the price of wall in another price of the country or in other countries. So they can economically, this is a tool to find out wool to get more information. It can become very important. Im not myself as i said involved in pushing any kind of phone program so i cant really talk more about it. Well, ive been very impressed. I do watch come as a talked before coming here, afghan news whenever i can. Ive been very impressed with your public statements in farsi and your commitment and your leadership has been extremely inspiring. So i thank you for your service as the first lady for afghanistan. With that i would like to open the floor and take questions, comments. Please introduce yourself so we know who you are. Please here, and then we will move around. Until he gets the microphone, i want to say that, yes, i mastered that the dari language. Ive also given a speech in hushed in on april 6. I went to jalalabad and joined their womens day, interNational Womens day celebration, and i talk in hushed in. Thank you. I missed about. Excellent. Thank you. The are things you dont know about me. [laughter] we will not make any comments. Well, try to congratulations on the speaking in farsi. I have the Program Director for a group called capitalist international in washington, d. C. I thank you for being a positive inspirational public image not only for the women of afghanistan but for the country as a whole. My question has to do with education from every all except education did be the master key for success for all individuals in our society. Many, many years ago i was a student at Georgetown University and i was attending many meetings at the u. S. Afghan Womens Council. Back then we were debating how to create some social changes that are sustainable for Economic Empowerment of women in afghanistan. Not always but on numerous occasions i suggested the idea of creating a womens only university for afghan women in afghanistan modeled after colleges in massachusetts United States. Back then nobody listened to me but i recently have heard that that idea has been adopted. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about that and if you are engaged in that intervention . Because i believe such an intervention is the right intervention for future of the womens empowerment across the broader spectrum of life for afghan women in social and economic, and political aspects of life. Thank you. Yes. It is a project for a womens university. I will not take credit for the idea. It was one of my husbands promises during the campaign, and he followed on that promise like he followed on many of the promises. I think the country that has taken upon itself to create this university is turkey. And they are, as far as i know, like months ago i was with the minister of Higher Education and she told me that they were about to sign the memorandum of understanding. So it is under way and probably within a year we will have that university. Its going to be located on it will have a beautiful view of kabul, and to help that it will benefit a lot of women. Thank you. Please, back there. Yes. I am a graduate student at Georgetown University. Thank you, thank you for your presentation. Im originally from sherlock and being a sherlock and following the world ticket cup quite recently. You know the established cricketing nations been incredibly impressed by the feats of the afghanistan theater in fact the west indies were defeated by afghanistan a few days ago. So my question to you is, do you see the potential for cricket to advance, to advance a nationbuilding process, like a garnering consensus on a Common National identity parks weve seen in the past sports being used as a tool to bring people together. Whats the role of cricket, in your view, in bringing afghans together . Thank you spent you might laugh but it is a very fortunate statement. Cricket is extended important in afghanistan because it is news that nobody can turn into negative news. It is positive news. And they are very proud of their teams, and on cricket tonight everybody stays up to watch on tv the cricket matches. And they were very happy to see that afghanistan has progress to the upper level and that they had, of the four matches that they did, they did win one against a country that had been the champion in 2012. So people were very, very proud. Yes, sports completely very important role. And as you said, its a level or. And sports it doesnt matter where you come from. It doesnt matter what language you speak. It doesnt matter anything. It matters that youre good at it. And its a good symbol of national unity, yes. Way back. Yes, please. The gentleman who is standing and then well come this way. Thank you. Im gay with hindu american foundation, nonprofit ngo that studies the point of india minority in several countries. And unfortunate in afghanistan to hindu and sikh communities continue to decline in numbers. They seek Refugee Status here did you in all honesty do you feel that the hindus and sikhs actually to have a place in the state and can the government guarantee their security . Or should they seek refuge elsewhere in order to just survive . Im going to start by answering with a larger answer, more broader answer. It seems nowadays in the world that everybody wants to compartmentalize every country into different groups. Okay, in afghanistan it might be that we have the ethnic groups and hindus are one of them. In other countries you saw what happened in the middle east, and suddenly we discovered we had all these groups that lived there for centuries and lived there in peace, and some of they started to be persecuted. I think this trend is a very negative trend. The hindus have been part of our history. To our hindus in afghanistan. The our afghans in india. There has been a back and forth between the two countries. Its a very strong one. I once visited india and so many people had tremendous, of kabul during the cookies come out with a girl under honeymoon to kabul. How they would go for taking the sat and it was not an offer in india. Now we are in a situation, very first situation where kabul in afghanistan needs to catch up to where india is. The sikh and Hindu Community in afghanistan, they are of us. They speak the language. They have been there for centuries. There are certain considerations, practical consideration i know of that relate to, for example, the funerals where you need to have a pyre and burned the bodies. I think the government has reached an agreement with Hindu Community about creating a more modern facility, because people were complaining. You know, kabul has suddenly expanded, become such a long dash the largest city and of no places to be able to do these rituals. So there was some friction better. I would encourage the sikhs to stay, the sikhs and hindus to stay. Afghanistan is an inclusive country and we are a country where, for example, she is and sunnis have no problems unlike our neighbors. It is a country that is really very hospitable. Lady over there, yes, please. Im from the National Democratic institute. Thank you so much for the wonderful speech, as always inspiring. My question is on sustainability. I should Mention National unity government has made great progress towards strengthening womens role across different sectors, encouraging womens political engagement, assigning members, women numbers to high council and very high official government positions. Do you think of these efforts are sustainable . Talking beyond parity numbers, filling seats and positions. How sustainable do you think these efforts are . Thank you. The efforts will be as sustainable as the women themselves. You can open up opportunities. You can encourage, but the work has to be done at the people themselves. So if they are really keen on being part of the society on playing a role, there they have a chance and they will build their situation. If they are not keen, if its just a passing fancy, but the way i see the women in afghanistan, they are very keen and they are very grateful to be able to have so many opportunities where they can express themselves, where they can have an opinion and can push for certain things that they need. So i am optimistic. Great. This lady over here, and then we will go back. Thank you very much. You had a wonderful speech. They i ask my question in dari, please . Sure. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] may i translate for the audience the two questions . Question one was the issue of afghans who have gone to europe coming back, whether the government plans for reintegrated, reintegrating them in afghanistan. And number two was followed to what i raised on the mobile money, that there are benefits that already women have achieved from that, what more can they achieve from that technology . Please. Okay. Yes, we have, i read the latest number but i dont know because i have no real statistics. The latest number was 180,000 afghans have left the country. I want you to put that in perspective. The press makes it sound like there are hordes and hordes of afghans that are leaving. In a country of 32 million inhabitants, 180,000 is a small number. Now, the question whether the afghans will be welcomed when they come back to afghanistan. Of course, afghanistan is their country. They are more than welcome to come back. Now that youve seen the situation elsewhere is not much better, maybe they will feel more motivated to contribute to work for building up their country. So i dont see any problems with their coming back. As far as , i dont know, the second greatest album of question. Its a statement that i welcome this statement. You know, yes, why not . Anything that can help women, i am for it. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] let me just very quickly because its a very long. Basically, the lady was very kind to thank me for the work ive done and how high have given hope to every woman in afghanistan. That she can become, she can take part in the decision process in afghanistan. Her question is, is there a plan for affirmative action to allow women to have more. Im not quite sure because this is not something i am doing. Now, youve raised the question. I will look into it. This is how i function. Even come to me and raise question and see there is this, so i say okay, i try to understand what is doing what in office and maybe eventually i will be able to push. At you have two number i was neither elected nor selected. I have buried combining, on the book i have very little power. Its just because the women and the men are really appreciating what we are doing. That people, if there was somebody from office calls and say im calling from the office of the first lady, they are responding. I hope i will be able to look into this. Thank you. I think the one thing she did make to congratulate the first lady was for institutionalizing this office, or the position of the first lady in afghanistan. Please, yes, doctor. Back there. My name is mohammad. Unprivileged to go to school at Boston University on a fulbright scholarship. More privileged to meet the first first lady that they had in afghanistan, that ive got to meet in my lifetime. You spoke about longterm thinking, longterm planning with the initiatives. How long do you need to put afghanistan in a position that is reasonably a reversible in terms of development and stability wrecks and how are you explaining that to our allies for your administration and those that are going to follow you . Thank you. Again, i will mention that i dont do politics, but i will, so my answer is not going to be very precise because i dont interfere. When i talk with foreigners is much of on social and development issues. It takes time to build. It tanks a minute or two to destroy. You know, one bomb intended for everything in no time, but then to rebuild the house, it takes one year, one year and a half. The Previous Administration was very good at stopping the civil war. Remember, we had a civil war for 23 years. We were killing each other. We were bombing each other. We were destroying each other. So you have to give credit to the Previous Administration that day, president karzai was able to bring everybody at the table and say we are all together in this. Unfortunately, from the point of view of management, the Previous Administration was not very detail oriented, lets put it. So as long as things were going on, they take care of it. So this administration has arrived and found a lot of disorganization. And they are hard at work to try to bring some kind of order to the administration. Again, i will mention the Washington Post. I just read it yesterday so this is what its still in my mind, talking about a very disorganized government. Administers now have to have a hundred a programs, and at the end of the 100 days there in the cabinet, whoever said that the cabinet sessions dont do anything must not have attended cabinet sessions. In the cabinet, everyone reports on what he has done those 100 days. Has he met the goal is set is going to meet . Has he or she, was he or she able to move in further or organized or whatever . So i think theres been no for different hundred a programs there has been now for different hundred a programs. Every ministry has employees in the thousands. And you need to we train everyone and to tell them this is the way you do things, this is not the way. So its going to take time. I cannot say whether it will take a year or two years, three years. I hope by the end of the five your mandate you will see a very big difference from the beginning. Thats what i will commit to. Thank you. Yes, sir. They are and then over there. Please. Over here. Spinning its okay. Take this first. Place, while youre getting organized. Although. Yes, thank you very much for being here today. I was in kabul a couple of weeks ago and had the pleasure of hearing you speak at the interNational Womens day conference. My question has to do, how do you relate to the Womens Ministry . How do you divide your lanes in the road as it were what you do as opposed to what the Womens Ministry . Thank you. My name is max gross spent max of course has had a long relationship with afghanistan. True. Was married to an afghan lady. Who i think knows you and i also know your husband. Thank you. Its a very good question because its going to clarify something. Im not about creating new institutions. Im about helping the is mixing institutions work better. So i do that with all the ministries i am in contact with. The ministry of womens affairs, i see the minister rather regularly. Whatever she needs. I dont necessarily summon the minister and say, come, i need to understand what you were doing. They come to me. It always surprises me but apparently i do have some say in afghanistan. They come, ask for advice, i never suggested do this. Im never prescriptive. I never say this is the way to do, dont do this. No, no, no. She has, she came to a ministry that was a little bit in turmoil. They were two very strong women as deputy ministers, and she had all but difficulty within. I never said do this or do that. Eventually the two have been replaced and she has two other deputy ministers. Ive worked with her, for example, when i was interested in the ginger years in the ministry. We worked very hard. We brought all the people from gender ministry, there are two, three for ministry. We had a huge meeting and we discussed things, and we kind of made a summary at the end of things that were not working well. After that we follow through. I have to follow through, for example, i got to the, the organizational structure to sit with her, to write for these agenda units. Yes, for you and it is obvious thats what you need. But its not obvious in afghanistan. So we did the teamwork and eventually i think after that i let go because i so she was really taking the reins and she was going to do it. Its her project. Its her ministry. Im glad that she came to me for some advice and i was able to help her in a small way. But that was essential. So yes, i do the same with ministry of counternarcotics. I also have some dealings with ministry of Higher Education, but not really much. Ministry of education wanted to me to be an ambassador for later see, but they are undergoing a very big reform and that has been shelved. So it probably will, you will probably will hear that im doing i mean, all im doing is talking when i see people, telling people the way i see it, and hoping that somebody will pick up the project and run with it. Great. Please, yes. Please stand up so they can see you to give you the mic. Im excited direct of u. S. Afghan Womens Council at Georgetown University. We are so grateful that you are here and i would also like to publicly thank you for staying up in the middle of the night. Very quietly i dont think people know this come at you been sending us support and advice and to participate in our meetings at times when you dont even have the staff to do it, and were just so grateful to you for reaching out to us here in washington, d. C. Id like to ask specific what if you could talk further about one of the myths that you brought up. The myth of the afghan males, the afghan man as being uncivilized. Part of what i ask but that is because in my work what i found is with all of these successes, beautiful, talented afghan women to to talk about, there is always usually a strong and supportive and feminist and wonderful father, husband, brother, cousin, uncle, but i think we dont always hear about. We did talk a bit about the beauty of the afghan man in this struggle. That will take a lot of time. [laughter] you take all the time you need. [laughter] i think in that respect afghanistan is not very different from other countries in the world. Hold it down over there. I will give you the example your we have a hotline its called 6464. That is a hotline for the resolution of family problems. Its a hotline where people can call anonymously and ask for advice. Its, of course, addressed to women basically because its the women who have problems, but i found out that 70 of the calls are initiated by men. Fathers, brothers, sons, uncles who are worried about the situation in which a woman dear to them finds herself. That does not love his daughter. They love their daughters so much, they really cuddle her and very close to their daughters but eventually with all the cultural norms and from, from afar you think maybe, they dont care for their daughters but they do, they do care about their daughters. I hope i thank you for that. Yes, all the way in the back, please. [inaudible]. Thank you. Ken meyer. What is the enrollment rate primary and secondary education and does afghanistan have enough resources to educate both their boys and their girls . Its a good question. I dont know the numbers. Statistics in afghanistan are not really very precise but i do know there were articles at the beginning of last year about now, that 1. 3 young million young people joined the first grade last year. I dont have any confirmation. I read that in the newspaper. Our Education System was extremely strong and has produced people like ambassador halazann, my husband and it was because we had very i cant say the word, forwardlooking in 1919 and 1929. She was in charge of education and made sure people got a lot of scholarships and go abroad. She was prescriptive, she insisted everybody study education. I had a friend telling me her water wanted to become a doctor. No, the scholarship was only for education. Sew came back and became a teacher in a school or university. So we had very highlyeducated people running our schools and universities. We had a very strong educational system and im sure the ambassador will confirm that all the ones that came to the American University of beirut importanted very well by comparison to the other students at that institution because they had very solid grounding. So i think we can do it. I dont think we have reached that point yet. I think at this point we have a very, administrative needs to be reformed totally and we have to let alone, we need to know how many schools we have. You read the reports that some schools are only there are on paper. We dont know how many schools we have, we dont know how many schools who attend. We have too many schools in kabul which have three shifts. This means the first shift starts at 6 00 in the morning and finishes at 11. What does a child do afterwards . The last shift finishes at 9 00 in the evening. There is a lot to be done in the educational sector but im confident we can do it because it was done in afghanistan. We do have the experience. You mentioned queen saraya. Have you studied her, and i know you take some inspiration from her role . What happened was, when i became a public person, you know, when i became a first lady that the public could reach out to, a lot of people compared me to her. So yes, i tried to understand what her role was and what she was doing. She was much more involved than i am. She was a minister in the cabinet. She was, she went everywhere with the king and all this. I dont do that. Im not, im not interested she was young and maybe it was, she felt it was her role and her responsibility. I see my responsibility is to be there and to listen. I feel my responsibility is to, to be like a little bit like an woman. Person where people can come and complain and i never scold them. I never i scolded one group of students from lahore. They had come from, they wanted me, they said we dont have a road to herat we need a paved road to herat so were not this is one of the provinces in center of afghanistan. It is quite isolated. I said okay, that is good demand other one we three rivers, we need electricity produced out of these rivers. I said, fine, perfect. I will convey your messages. Then they said we dont have schools, i mean we dont have roads for schools. In winter we have schools next to the wall that gets sun and in summer we go to the wall that getting shade for schools. This was 25, 30, strapping young men. I said, come on, get together one day or two days, you can build one or tworoom schools. Youre not going to wait for the government to build you your school. Dont be, dont be lazy. We laughed. So i, i do scold people but very, very seldom. I think my role is much more to be, a place where people feel safe to come, safe to be able to say whatever is on their heart. Sometimes i have answers sometimes for your questions but, they feel sometimes that they have been hurt. That is my role, not more than that. You have been first lady now for 18 months. 18 months. You have taught a lot of afghans. If you had to identify one thing that the government, i dont want to get you in trouble, that the government needs to do wont get me in trouble. To Pay Attention to in terms of empowerment of women, what d

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