[7][8][9] She completed a master's degree in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut in 1974, where she had met her future husband, Ashraf Ghani.

[10] The couple married in 1975 and have two children: a daughter, Mariam Ghani, a Brooklyn-based visual artist,[11] and a son, Tariq.

Rula Ghani earned another master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City in 1983.

[14] At his presidential inauguration in 2014 Ghani publicly thanked his wife, acknowledging her with an Afghan name, Bibi Gul.

"[15][16] Historian Ali A Olomi argued in 2017 that, following the precedent of Afghanistan's Queen Soraya, Rula Ghani could help bring real change for women's rights in the country.