When she returned to the country in 2003, she joined a small organisation called Afghans for Civil Society and became an advocate for women in Kandahar, providing social programmes to help them find employment. In 2008 she started Kandahar Treasure, owned and run by women who created embroidery; the aim was to help them support themselves. ‘We had a little shop which was doing well – selling wedding trousseaux, scarves, men’s tunics… Instead of only relying on the international market we managed to find a local niche for affluent people.’

At its height, Kandahar Treasure had roughly 500 female artisans. Now there are seven working in the office and 120 working from home. Hamidi is exploring ways of exporting goods to Pakistan. ‘The business is not earning any money [at the moment] but my family have an orchard in Kandahar and we’re paying the women’s salaries with money generated from that.’

It was at Afghans for Civil Society that she met Abdullah. ‘We were working together for almost five years before we tied the knot,’ she says. ‘The funny thing is, like traditional love stories, when we first met we didn’t like each other.’

‘I didn’t like American-type girls,’ says Abdullah, deadpan.

‘He thought I was too liberal,’ smiles Hamidi.

‘I didn’t like the way they talked about men,’ says Abdullah. ‘But now you’re different. You’ve spent 17 years in Afghanistan, you’ve found a little bit of culture…’

Hamidi laughs. ‘I’m proud that I’ve been able to dispel the myth that any woman who grows up in the USA is a certain type. For me, intellectually and socially, it is not only a responsibility but an honour to understand and bridge the gap between those two societies: American and Afghan. I’m both and I’m comfortable with it.’

Zara was born in 2010, and in 2017 they moved to Kabul, where Hamidi became principal of an international school. When Ghani asked her to be minister of education, she was amazed.

She came up with 12 reasons not to do it, but Ghani talked her out of every one. Abdullah thought she wouldn’t be able to cope with the other ministers, entrenched in history, and the outdated and partially corrupt system. Her mother was worried for her security but said, ‘If you don’t accept it then you have no right to complain that people in those positions are corrupt criminals.’

Hamidi was very impressed with Ghani and his idea to modernise Afghanistan’s curriculum. ‘The vision he had was very inspiring – to revamp the entire thought process of how we were educating our children; to use education as a source of cohesion to prepare children for the new century; to unify the country through educating future generations about our diversity and multiplicity, and to own that and celebrate it, rather than using it against each other.’

She was one of three female ministers (officially ‘acting’ minister of education because her appointment was never confirmed by parliament). She did what she could in the 14 months, including incorporating technology using the country’s limited resources; but the role was exceptionally challenging as she attempted to negotiate the workings of a government riven by corruption, and divided by disputes between the country’s ethnic groups.