i would like to thank fred kempe, jim cunningham and zal khalilzad. thank you for the welcoming, members of the advanced camera for taking the time to come and listen to me. listening is something i myself still 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 i had to get to know them better and understand their grievance. hence, the open door policy of my office. in the first six to eight months, group after group have come to see me. pouring out their heart and sharing their concerns. some came from the provinces, others from kabul. if you are civil servant, among them of course the four women investors. others are social activists announced reviewers. to this date, it is somewhat less rushed. i listen to my four advisers who reported to me daily, for enthusiastic hard-working women slightly younger than i am who deeply care for their country, who still

going to leave that to the atlantic council senior fellow and chair ambassador james cunningham, jim cunningham, who until a year ago was the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. i'm very proud to have him at the atlantic council holding this role and to have him now introduce a woman who has shown the formidable will and unmatched leadership needed to advance the conditions of women, children and internally displaced people in afghanistan. so ambassador -- ambassador cunningham. [ applause ] >> thank you, fred, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. and for the many of you who are in the audience who have been engaged for a long time in afghanistan, i want to thank you for your support. we have a lot of distinguished guests here so i'm glad you took -- very pleased that you took time out of your busy schedules to join us today to hear mrs. ghani and i want to say a special word of welcome to ambassador of norway cory oss and ambassador mohib and his wife. i'm not going to go into mrs. ghani's bio, you have that in the documents. i also want to thank ambassador azad for joining us today. the

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, hard-working women slightly younger than i am who deeply car

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