rula ghani. mrs. ghani, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. please carry our best wishes back to your husband, president ghani, with whom you know we have a long and deep relationship of the atlantic council and we gave him our distinguished leadership award last year with great pride. i'd like to extend a special welcome to his excellency habib. mr. ambassador, ambassador to afghanistan to the united states and his wife who are joining us for today's conversation. mr. ambassador, with he so greatly value the council's strong, productive relationship with your embassy. we consider this bilateral relationship to be a relationship that has outsized importance in the months and the years ahead and we look forward to working with you on strengthening our bonds. atlantic council board director ambassador khali zal is also here. his general support is a crucial catalyst that enables our afghan programming. any of you who have spent time with zal know that he built an incredible career and has unique challenges -- you unique insights in the challenge

i want to say brief word about rula ghani is a person. my wife, leslie and i were very happy to have known her and her husband when we were in afghanistan and we are very proud to have her as a friend. we first met several years ago at her home in kabul. while she was not dead, she was a particularly public person. she was a gracious and engaging host, a warm and thoughtful person committed to improving afghanistan and supporting her husband's untiring effort in that regard and i mean untiring. when ghani ran for president, it was the first in afghanistan. she was a gracious campaigner. she was attacked and maligned for campaigning in some quarters and sometimes hurt always. she remained committed to supporting the campaign into a better future for our country. as american ambassador is the entrepreneur and the president recognized her at his inauguration, a symbolic turning of the page in afghan history. afghanistan is facing severe problems and challenges as we all know, but there is a new afghanistan are leading and emerging. the futur

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 haven't changed. i've always been what i am, and i'm 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. that's 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, es