WD | Culture | Diplomatic Spouses
Afghan Ambitions American Wife of Afghan Envoy Works to Rebuild War-Torn Nation •
BY GAIL SCOTT
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he is from Asheville, N.C., and went to college in Boston, but is as much at home in Afghanistan as she is in America. “I fell in love with the country,” said Lael Mohib, the 29-year-old wife of Hamdullah Mohib, the 32year-old ambassador of Afghanistan. “My best friend in college was Afghan and when she went back home after graduation, I went too. I had done my master’s thesis on Central and Southeast Asia and got a four-month summer internship in the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. “I loved my work with the Community Development Council, a part of the country’s National Solidarity Program, where they give small grants to different communities and the community contributes in kind. I found Afghans very hospitable. They are beautiful people.” Lael not only fell in love with Afghanistan, but with one Afghan in particular. Her and Hamdullah met in Afghanistan through mutual friends. “It was just a random meeting.” She recalled thinking at the time: “He was substantial.” Lael converted to Islam when they married in London. They were there for two years while her husband worked toward his Ph.D. from Brunel University, which awarded him a research scholarship to pursue his studies, including his thesis on how to deliver 3D video communications over heterogeneous networks. Hamdullah, an Afghan native, first came to England as a teenager, having spent years in refugee camps in Pakistan — first to escape the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and later Taliban rule. His family scraped enough money to send HamdulLael Mohib and her husband, Hamdullah Mohib, met in Afghanistan, where she had worked with lah, the youngest of 11 children, to study in England, where he became active local communities help rebuild the country while he had returned to Kabul after studying in England. among the local Afghan community. He founded the largest Afghan diaspora youth association in Europe, the Afghan Students Association of the UK. He Lael is waiting on 501C nonprofit status to have the foundation officially also founded and served as board chairman of the Afghan Professionals Net- established here in the U.S. work (APN). Within APN, he initiated community service programming to “Orphans, children, the disabled don’t have anyone to speak for them. They support special needs orphans in Kabul, and to recognize the achievements of need in-home support, especially with poor and at-risk families,” she told us. Afghan women — two issues that resonate personally with Lael. “The kids found me. I don’t claim to be the expert … it snowballed for me.” Despite his success in England, Hamdullah felt the constant pull of his Hamdullah’s diplomatic career also snowballed. In 2009, he joined the preshomeland and decided to return, he told Roxanne Roberts in a recent Wash- idential campaign of former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani. Although Ghani ington Post profile. “The minute I landed in Kabul,” he said, “it felt like a big lost to Hamid Karzai, he would go on to win the presidency in 2014 — and weight off my shoulder was lifted.” make Hamdullah his deputy chief of staff before apThere, he used his tech savvy to become dipointing him ambassador to the U.S. in 2015. rector of information technology at the AmeriMeanwhile, Lael joined BBC Media Action’s Afcan University of Afghanistan, where Lael was ghanistan team, where she worked on educational working at the time as director of communicaand media development programs. She later became tions. chief of staff at the American University of AfghaniShe had earned her master’s degree from Bosstan shortly before coming to Washington with her ton University in international relations and a husband. bachelor’s in communication and media studies Now, the young couple has found themselves at Mary Baldwin College. “I have never really in the spotlight as they work to rebuild a country LAEL MOHIB worked as a journalist, although I taught jourwracked by decades of war and poverty. wife of Afghan Ambassador Hamdullah Mohib nalism at the American University of Afghani“I’ve always been quiet and serious,” Lael told us and founder of the Enabled Children Initiative stan in Kabul and I love to write,” Lael told us. as she sat in the living room of their modest CleveIn 2014, she contributed a chapter on speland Park residence, gently rubbing her stomach and cial needs children in Afghanistan to “Children of Afghanistan: The Path to looking out over their backyard, where a small, brightly colored plastic slide Peace,” published by University of Texas Press. awaits their 3-year old daughter Miriam. The couple is expecting their second It is an issue close to her heart. Her father, a surgeon, became deaf in the child this summer. “In fact, my friends used to tell me that I needed to lighten middle of his career and her aunt was intellectually disabled. But Lael also up a bit. I wouldn’t call myself ‘ambitious,’ but I do like to keep busy and to credits her interest in helping people with special needs to her experiences in make things happen,” she said. Afghanistan. “We have a great team at the embassy. I don’t do anything on my own but “It was 2009 and everyone in the Afghan government had only a one-day sometimes I initiate a program. I am in a rare role. It’s not an official role but weekend — Friday. I knew I wanted to do something outside my work,” she I’m not there to have an official role,” she explained. “I am a full-time volunrecalled. “A friend who volunteered in an orphanage for the disabled invited teer focusing on social, cultural, educational and women’s empowerment prome to join her. I immediately became emotionally invested and decided to grams. I am usually there from nine to five every day, but now I am starting help them with their fundraising.” my maternity leave. It is also the beginning of Ramadan.” Soon Lael started her own foundation, the Enabled Children Initiative, Despite embracing the duties of diplomacy, both Lael and Hamdullah are which advocates for Afghan orphans with special needs. “The charity goes still unaccustomed to the spotlight. pretty much where I go. We are all volunteers. You might call us global volun“We’re not used to having a public aspect to our lives. We still don’t conteers. Now, in Kabul we have access to a doctor, a physical therapist, a hospital sider ourselves to be public figures. We are very private people,” she said. “You and a school for the children. However, I’m the worst promoter and fundSEE DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES • PAGE 35 raiser,” she quipped.
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I found Afghans very hospitable. They are beautiful people…. I fell in love with the country.
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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | JULY 2016 | 31