Zeenat Karzai
Zeenat Karzai | |
|---|---|
 Zeenat Karzai in 2005 | |
| First Lady of Afghanistan | |
| In role 22 December 2001 – 29 September 2014 | |
| President | Hamid Karzai |
| Preceded by | Vacant |
| Succeeded by | Rula Ghani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zeenat Quraishi 1970 (age 53–54) |
| Nationality | Afghan |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Kabul University |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Zeenat Quraishi Karzai (born 1970) is the wife of former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and was the First Lady of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Originally from the city of Kandahar, she moved to Kabul, where she lived at the Arg (the Presidential palace) with her husband and their four children.
Education and career
[edit]Born in 1970 and raised in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the daughter of a civil servant, Zenat Quraishi moved to Kabul after high school to attend Kabul University.
She was a gynaecologist by profession and worked in hospitals treating Afghan refugees in Pakistan before she married Hamid Karzai.[1]
Family
[edit]She is an ethnic Pashtun. Zeenat belongs to the Quraish family line and her husband Karzai is from the Popalzai tribe.
In 1993, she and her family escaped from the civil war to neighboring Quetta in Balochistan, Pakistan.
She is a distant relative of Hamid Karzai.[citation needed]
They have one son and three daughters.[2][3]
For a president who has been credited for helping the women of Afghanistan regain their civil rights, Karzai has been criticized for being overly conservative with his own spouse. Many have accused Karzai of keeping the first lady out of the media’s reach over fears of criticism from conservative mullahs and religious leaders.[4][undue weight? – discuss]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ "Afghan First Lady's quiet public debut". The Daily Telegraph. 10 April 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Afghan President Hamid Karzai's baby girl born in Gurgaon hospital". Times of India. 7 March 2014.
- ^ "Sahara Samay - Latest News India, Live Breaking News Regional News, World Top Headlines, Business, Politics, Sports, Bollywood". Sahara Samay.
- ^ "Meeting Afghanistan's 'invisible' first lady". BBC. 8 March 2013.
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