Meet The Next Female President of Afghanistan!

The Favored Daughter: One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future. Fawzia Koofi (born in 1975 or 1976) is an Afghan politician and women's right activist. Originally from Badakhshan province, she is currently serving as a Member of Parliament in Kabul, and is the Vice President of the National Assembly. She has also announced her intention to run as a presidential candidate in the 2014 elections in Afghanistan, causing a global political earthquake. Her story movingly captures the political and cultural moment in Afghanistan, causing a global political earthquake. Her story movingly captures the political and cultural moment in Afghanistan, a country caught between the hope of progress, and the bitter truth of history, and is documented in her brand new book: "The Favored Daughter: One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future. The nineteenth daughter of a local village leader in rural Afghanistan, Fawzia Koofi was left to die in the sun after birth by her mother, but she survived, and perseverance in the face of extreme hardship has defined her life ever since. Despite the abuse of her family, the exploitative Russian and Taliban regimes, the murders of her father, brother, and husband, and numerous attempts on her life, she rose to become the first Afghani woman Parliament speaker. Here, she shares her amazing story, punctuated by a series of poignant letters she wrote to her two daughters before each political trip, letters describing the future and freedoms she dreamed of, for them, and for all the women of Afghanistan. Youth and education: Born into a polygamous family of seven women, she was first rejected by her parents because of her sex. Her father, a member of Parliament, had married a younger woman, and Koofi's mother sought to have a son, to maintain her husband's affection. The day she was born, Koofie was left out to die in the sun. She managed to persuade her parents to send her to school, making her the only girl in the family to attend school. She subsequently graduated from Preston University in Pakistan with a master's degree in business and management. Her father was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 25 years, but died at the end of the first Afghan war (1979-1989), killed by Mujahideens. Koofi originally wanted to become a physician, but chose to study political science, and become a member of UNICEF. She worked closely with vulnerable groups, such as Internally Displaced People (IDP) and marginalized women and children, and served as a child protection officer for the organization from 2002 to 2004. Koofi began her political career in 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, promoting the right to education of girls in her "Back to school" campaign.