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As the wife of the newly elected president, Rula Ghani stands to be the first publicly visible wife of an Afghan leader in nearly a century.

But unlike her most direct antecedent Queen Soraya, who along with her husband, King Amanullah, ruled Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929 she has no intention of drastically upending Afghan social norms.

Instead, Rula Ghani, a Lebanese Maronite Christian in a predominantly Muslim nation, wants to provide support for every "woman who wants to better herself and improve her standard of living within the [societal] context she is living now."

Though Afghan women have regained many rights since the fall of the religiously extremist Taliban 28% of the parliament is made up of female representatives women, particularly in rural areas, must still contend with cultural objections to working outside the home and getting an education.

Last year, the United Nations documented 650 cases of violence and abuse against women, the majority of which went unpunished.

"My aim is not to revolutionize the situation but to improve the situation for women within the existing structures.... I'm here to help women establish their own importance within the family," the wife of President Ashraf Ghani said in an interview at the presidential palace.

Rula Ghani who first lived as part of an Afghan family in the Kabul home of her in-laws for three years in the mid-1970s says she wants to use her role as bano aval, or first lady, to strengthen the position of Afghan women within the "close networks" of Afghan families.

Throughout her husband's presidential campaign, high-profile critics, including Mohammad Mohaqeq deputy to rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah sought to paint Rula as a foreigner out of touch with a Muslim society. Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of the northern province of Balkh, said Ashraf Ghani didn't "know about religion" and said his "children and wife are not Afghans."

She counters that she has never felt out of place in Afghanistan. From the outset, she has said that her upbringing in a Lebanese family fluent in Arabic, French and English helped her to adjust quickly to Afghan ways.

"I was immediately accepted by the family. When people realized I spoke Arabic they thought I spoke the language of the Koran," the first lady said.

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First Lady Rula Ghani aims to elevate Afghanistan's women