Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, has been deeply involved in U.S. policy towards Afghanistan since entering Congress in 1993. In 1996, Royce called for Congressional hearings on Afghanistan, which highlighted the terrorist networks developing on its soil and the humanitarian plight of the Afghan people. Shortly after September 11th, Royce introduced legislation that was signed into law recreating Radio Free Afghanistan, which provides 12 hours of news daily—in both Dari and Pashto—with the mission of promoting and sustaining democratic values and institutions. In March of 2002, Congressman Royce traveled to Afghanistan to assess its reconstruction. Royce has also helped arrange meetings for Afghan-Americans with the State Department and the White House.

Professor Abdul Sattar Sirat, Ph.D. is the President and founder of the National Unity of Afghanistan. He is Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at the Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia. In Afghanistan during the 1960s and 1970s, he served as (a) Minister of State and Secretary General of Ministers’ Council. (b) Minister of Justice and Attorney General and President of Endowments, and (c) Dean of Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Kabul University. During the past three decades he has served as Senior and Permanent Advisor to Mohammad Zahir Shah, the former King of Afghanistan. Accordingly, he presided over the Rome Group in the December 2001 Bonn, Germany conference.

Ambassador Peter Tomsen was President George Bush Sr.'s Special Envoy and Ambassador on Afghanistan, 1989-1992. He retains close ties with today's Afghan leaders, including President Hamid Karzai. Ambassador Tomsen was one of the last Westerners to meet with Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud before his tragic assassination in an Al Qaeda plot. After serving for three years as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, he retired from the Foreign Service in 1998. Since then he has been called to address Afghan issues in numerous TV and radio shows, lectures around the country and participate in House and Senate hearings on Afghanistan.

Ambassador Ahmad Zia Massoud is the brother of the legendary Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud of Afghanistan who was assassinated by two Al Qaeda suicidal bombers on September 9, 2001. His Excellency Ahmad Zia Massoud is currently the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Moscow. He has studied architecture in Kabul Polytechnic University and is the author of several papers on the stability and peace in Afghanistan. During the war of Afghanistan against the Soviet Union he represented the Freedom Fighters of Afghanistan and the Late Ahmad Shah Massoud in numerous meetings and conferences.

Hasan Nouri, P.E., Fellow ASCE will serve as the Panel Moderator. He is President of Rivertech Inc. and Chairman of the International Orphan Care. He is the winner of six awards by five national engineering societies including the Hoover Medal. On September 17, 2001 the regular Council event with Sir Ronnie Flanagan was cancelled because of the September 11 tragedy. Instead, Hasan Nouri who is a Trustee of the Council delivered an emotional speech about the suffering that had befallen on the country of his birth–Afghanistan. He has testified on Afghanistan before both houses of Congress several times.