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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

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force sold over a dozen Afghan military transport planes -- which cost millions of U.S. tax dollars -- for $32,000 in scrap metal, a government watchdog group reports.

John F. Sopko, head of the Office of the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote an Oct. 3 letter to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah L. James inquiring about 16 G222 aircraft parked in Kabul International Airport:

It has come to my attention that the sixteen G222s at Kabul were recently towed to the far side of the airport and scrapped by the Defense Logistics Agency. I was also informed that an Afghan construction company paid approximately 6 cents a pound for the scrapped planes, which came to a total of $32,000. I am concerned that the officials responsible for planning and executing the scrapping of the planes may not have considered other possible alternatives in order to salvage taxpayer dollars.

Sopko requested documentation related to the decision, as well as explanations. He notes in the letter that the Department of Defense expended $486 million for 20 of the aircraft, and that the other four G222s were at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He asked what DOD's plans were for those aircraft.

The G222 is a turboprop military transport made by Alenia North America, a subsidiary of Italy's Alenia Aeronautica. The aircraft were brought to Afghanistan in 2011.

The program's intention was to bolster the operational requirements of the Afghan Air Force, but it was halted in March 2013 due to "continuous and severe operational difficulties, including a lack of spare parts."

John Young, chief executive officer of Alenia North America, said in 2011 that the G222 was becoming the "backbone" of the Afghan Air Force, and had "provided vital support to ongoing missions" in the country.

"Alenia North America is looking forward to continuing to be involved in the G222 program in future years," Young said at the time.

A company spokesman told Bloomberg the program was exceeding expectations when the air force decided not to renew the contract.

A Pentagon spokesman said the G222 program was unable to fulfill mission needs, and that the aircraft were destroyed "to minimize impact on drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan."

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Air Force scraps nearly $500 million in planes in Afghanistan

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