Hijratullah Safi, assistant professor of law at the Nangarhar University, was born in 1986 in Kunar province. He received his LL.M degree in Asian & Comparative Law from the University of Washington School of Law in 2016, and his LL. B degree from the Nangarhar University (NU) in 2011. In 2012, he joined the Law School of the mentioned university as lecturer. In addition, he has chaired the curriculum committees of the NU and the law faculty. From 2014 to 2015, he served as head of the Night Shift Program of the NU Law School. He has authored multiple textbooks (in Pashto and Dari) and research articles (in English and Pashto). The textbooks he has authored are Legal Research and Writing, The Principles and Methods of Legislation in Islamic Fiqh and Statutory Law, and Criminology. One of his articles, “Ensuring Compensation for Wrongful Detention and Wrongful Imprisonment in Afghanistan” has been published in the California Western International Law Journal in 2016. In addition to working in academia, he has served as Program Office for the Afghan-US Law Alumni Association (ALAA) between June 2019 and June 2021. Since July 2021, he is serving as 1st Deputy Director of ALAA. He has also worked with multiple foreign NGOs such NRC (as Information Counselor), Checchi (as ToT Expert), Afghanistan Legal Research and Development Organization (as Legal Translator), and the Asia Foundation (as the Legal Writing Trainer). Recent Publications •2023. "Politics Before Law: The New Panel Code of 2017 and Its Limited Protection of Ethnic Minorities" in Criminal Legalities and Minorities in the Global South •2023. Missed Opportunities: How Jihadi Elites Mishandled Constitutional Reforms in Afghanistan, InterRegional Institute for Strategic Analysis. •2022. "The Constitution and the Laws of the Taliban 1996-2001: Hints From the Past & Options for the Future" International IDEA •2022. “Deproblematizing the Federal–Unitary Dichotomy: Insights from a Public Opinion Survey about Approaches to Designing a Political System in Afghanistan” Publius: The Journal of Federalism •2022. "Terrorizing Education: Afghanistan’s Educational Sector Grapples with Taliban’s Extremism" Inter-Regional Ins. for Strategic Analysis. •2021. “Designing A Constitution: Bridging the Gap Between Political Ideals and Political Practices in Afghanistan,” in Risks, Identity, and Conflict •2021. “Examining the Taliban’s Words, Thoughts and Deeds—II: The Taliban’s Hostage Diplomacy” The Diplomat •2021. “Examining the Taliban’s Words, Thoughts and Deeds—I: The Myth of Taliban 2.0” The Diplomat •2021. "Should the Taliban Be Given Afghanistan’s UN Seat? A Test of the Integrity of International Law" The Diplomat •2021. “The Leadership Factor: How Has a Fixable State Failed in Afghanistan?” Inter-Regional Ins. for Strategic Analysis. •2021. “What Does the Future Hold for the New Taliban Government?” Inter-Regional Institute for Strategic Analysis.

Mimi Kirk is Associate Director and Adjunct Faculty for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. She was previously Program Manager at the Middle East Studies Association and Managing Director of Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network. She serves on the Board of Americans for Middle East Understanding and is director of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism and editor of the Journal for the Study of Christian Zionism. Her writing has appeared in Middle East Report, the Atlantic, Jadaliyya, and Al Jazeera, among other publications.

Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili is the founding director of the Center for Governance and Markets and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. She serves as a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a distinguished scholar of peace and international order at the Institute for Humane Studies, and is a contributing editor at National Interest magazine. She has been recognized as one of the world's top thinkers by Prospect Magazine. At the University of Pittsburgh, she received the Donald Goldstein Professor of the Year Award and the Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement She is the author of several books including, Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan (Cambridge University Press), which received the Best Book Award in Social Sciences from the Central Eurasian Studies Society and an honorable mention from the International Development Section of the International Studies Association. Other books include, Land, the State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan (with Ilia Murtazashvili) and The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights (with Coliin Harris, Meina Cai, and Ilia Murtazashvili) both published by Cambridge University Press. In the policy world, she served as a democracy and governance officer for the United States Agency for International Development in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and worked as a senior researcher for the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul. Other policy work includes service for the World Bank, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, UNICEF, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Currently, she is a member of the executive board of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies, a board member at the Collins Institute for Abrahamic Heritage, and a member of PONARS Eurasia. Previously, she was a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, served as the president of the Central Eurasian Studies Society, and was an elected board member of the Section for International and Comparative Public Administration of the American Society of Public Administration.

Thomas Barfield is a social anthropologist who conducted ethnographic fieldwork among pastoral nomads in northern Afghanistan in the mid 1970s as well as shorter periods of research in Xinjiang, China and post-Soviet Central Asia. He is the author of The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan (1981), The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China (1989) and Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture (1991). After 2001 his research returned to Afghanistan, focusing on law, government organization and economic development issues on which he has written extensively. In 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship that led to the publication of Afghanistan: A cultural and political history (2010). That book received an outstanding title award for American Library Association in 2011 and was republished in an expanded second edition in 2022 . He has served as President of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies since 2005. His most recent book, Shadow Empires, explores how distinctly different types empires arose and sustained themselves as the dominant polities of Eurasia and North Africa for 2500 years before disappearing in the 20th century. Selected Publications 2023. Shadow Empires: An alternative imperial history. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2022. Afghanistan: A cultural and political history (2nd edition). Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1997. (executive editor) The dictionary of anthropology. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell. 1989. The perilous frontier: Nomadic empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757. Oxford: Blackwell.

Professor Lombardi joined the UW law school faculty in 2004. A specialist in Islamic law and in constitutional law, he teaches in these areas and also teaches courses in federalism, comparative law, and development law. Professor Lombardi's current research and writing have focused on the evolution of Islamic law in contemporary legal systems. He also focuses on comparative judicial institutions and on the way that constitutional systems deal with religious organizations and religious law. Professor Lombardi has a Ph.D. in Religion from Columbia University where he focused on Islamic law. At Columbia Law School in 1998 he was a James Kent Scholar and editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. From 1999-2000, he clerked for Judge Samuel A. Alito, then on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He practiced law with the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City, where he specialized in representing sovereigns and in complex transnational commercial matters, often with sovereign participation. Professor Lombardi has lived, worked or studied in Indonesia, Yemen, Egypt, and Afghanistan. He has taught courses on Islamic law at Columbia Law School and the NYU Department of Middle East Studies. He has spoken at the Council on Foreign Relations and numerous academic forums. He has been involved in projects advising on constitutional or legal reform in the Muslim world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. In recognition of his work, he was named a Carnegie Scholar for 2006-08, which allowed him to expand his research into Islamic law and constitutionalism in the modern world.

Alice Stokke is a graduate of Connecticut College and has a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. Following several years in commercial banking and practicing law, she administered international grants and contracts at the University of Washington School of Law (UW) from 2003-2020. She played an integral role in UW’s sixteen-year effort to build capacity in Afghanistan’s public universities’ legal education programs and served as Co-Director of its Legal Education Support Program-Afghanistan (LESPA). She also administered or judged the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Afghanistan for several years.

With over 25 years of experience advancing human rights, women’s leadership, and good governance in conflict and post-conflict settings, I am passionate about creating systems that empower people and strengthen democratic institutions. I’ve led programs across Afghanistan, South and Central Asia, and the United States—focusing on civic participation, women’s and youth leadership, and policy reform. My work bridges research, advocacy, and implementation, driving evidence-based strategies to counter violent extremism, promote inclusive governance, and protect fundamental rights. At the U.S. Institute of Peace, I designed and led groundbreaking initiatives such as the Ground Truth Project, giving voice to Afghans under Taliban rule and informing U.S. and international policy decisions. I developed mentorship programs for Afghan women in law and led studies on the long-term implications of extremist educational systems and regional proxy conflicts. I also spearheaded leadership and capacity-building initiatives for women in peace negotiation. Recognized for a collaborative and strategic leadership style, I have led multidisciplinary teams through some of the most complex political environments, driving impact through integrity, transparency, equity, and inclusion—principles I view as the foundation of sustainable peace, justice, and progress. Regularly invited to speak on the issues related to women's rights, gender persecution, gender apartheid in Afghanistan, justice and accountability, and women, peace, and security, sharing insights with policymakers, academic institutions, and civil society platforms. Core Specialties: Program Design and Implementation, Cross-sector Partnership, Public-Private Partnerships, Facilitation, Strategic Planning, Stakeholder Engagement, Research and Policy Analysis Sector Expertise: Civil Society Development, Rule of Law, Women's Rights, Gender Mainstreaming, Human Rights Advocacy Speaking & Advisory: Keynote Speaking, Strategic Advisory, Board Leadership, Thought Leadership, Policy Advisory, International Consulting

Dr. Omar Sadr is a political scientist whose work bridges academic research, public scholarship, and policy engagement. He is currently a research fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and the founding editor-in-chief and host of Negotiating Ideas, an online magazine and podcast focused on democracy and pluralism. He also serves as a non-resident fellow at Princeton University’s Afghanistan Policy Lab. From 2021 to 2025, Dr. Sadr was a senior research scholar at the Center for Governance and Markets (CGM) at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he served as an assistant professor of political science at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) until the collapse of the Afghan republic in 2021. His academic visibility and outspoken advocacy for democratic and pluralistic governance placed him at considerable risk under the returning Taliban regime, forcing him—like many Afghan academics—to flee Kabul in August 2021. He subsequently joined the University of Pittsburgh as a refugee scholar on a visiting appointment. Dr. Sadr’s personal and intellectual journey is deeply shaped by Afghanistan’s turbulent history. Twelve years of his childhood unfolded amid civil war, state fragmentation, Taliban rule, displacement, and profound personal loss. He later continued his education in New Delhi, where he earned his doctorate and became the first PhD graduate in the Social Sciences at South Asian University (SAU)—a university established by the SAARC nations—and the first Afghan citizen to receive a doctorate from SAU. His research focuses on pluralism, governance, human rights, political Islam, the Taliban, and democracy in diverse societies. His award-winning book, Negotiating Cultural Diversity in Afghanistan, which received the 2022 Best Book in Social Science Prize from the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS), examines the challenges of governing diversity in pluralistic societies and offers an original theory of coexistence. Beyond academia, Dr. Sadr is deeply engaged in policy-oriented research. He has contributed to major policy forums, including programs hosted by the US Institute of Peace (USIP), the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), Brookings, the Middle East Institute, South Asia Monitor, and the Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS). His policy and research work includes a widely cited 2016 report on minority rights in Afghanistan for the South Asia Collective, as well as extensive research for AISS and the National Centre for Policy Research at Kabul University. His analyses have appeared in the Atlantic Council, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Jadaliyya, Fair Observer, The National Interest, and across numerous Persian-language outlets. He is also a frequent media commentator, regularly appearing on BBC Persian, Afghanistan International, and ToloNews.

Tawab Danish, a remarkable individual with roots in the scenic Bagram District of Parwan, Afghanistan, where he was born in the warm month of August 1985. Tawab's academic journey is quite the inspiration—he embarked on his higher education at Albironi University in Kapisa, obtaining his law degree with flying colors in 2007. With a thirst for knowledge, he then ventured to Pune University in vibrant Maharashtra, India, where he expanded his horizons with a master's in public administration and political science between 2009 and 2011. His passion for law and public service didn't stop there; he further honed his expertise with an LLM from the prestigious University of Washington School of Law in 2018-19. Tawab's dedication and hard work paid off handsomely when he was chosen for the esteemed role of assistant professor at Parwan University's Faculty of Law and Political Science in 2013. He didn't just teach; he led with distinction as vice-dean and then dean of the law faculty up until 2019. His specialties? None other than the pillars of justice—Constitutional Law, Public International Law, and Human Rights Law. 2019 marked a significant milestone for Tawab as he received the honor of being appointed by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as a Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for International Affairs—a testament to his profound expertise and integrity. But Tawab's contributions extend beyond the halls of government; he's a trailblazer in education too! In 2014, he founded Bagram Bastan Private High School, lighting the path to learning for over a thousand eager Afghan boys and girls. Following the dramatic changes in Afghanistan, Tawab and his beloved family—his wife and three wonderful children—relocated to the United States. Here, he continues to share his wealth of knowledge as a SRF Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the distinguished Cornell School of Law, now in his second year. His journey reflects a relentless commitment to education, law, and the rights of people everywhere.

Hadley Rose Staley, J.D./LL.M., is the Director of Programs at Lawyers Without Borders (LWOB). Hadley has 15 years of professional experience in rule of law programming in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Hadley worked as an embedded advisor in legislative drafting unit at the Rwandan Ministry of Justice, assisting in drafting and revising over 50 laws and orders arising from Constitutional mandates, organic laws, and ordinary laws, including legislation related to national security. She also developed a 6-month diploma course in legislative drafting, and supported the launch of the Rwanda Law Reform Commission. More recently, Hadley was the Executive Director of Friends of the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan for 8 years, focused on teaching, training, and supporting Afghan lawyers, and an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Law Department at the American University of Afghanistan in 2013-2014 teaching international law, comparative law, and traditional dispute resolution. She also served on a team of victim’s lawyers at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia, and represented victims of land rights violations in Rwanda. Hadley also has extensive experience in legislative reform, legislative drafting, and law and policy reform. She has worked on improving the effectiveness of national laws and policies and conducting reviews of national legislation in the Asia-Pacific using empirical data to highlight best practices in legislative design and implementation. Hadley has also worked with lawmakers, human rights activists, and lawyers to ensure accountability for national security instruments in respect of the freedom of expression, and has developed guidance for parliamentarians on incorporating human and civil rights into national legislation and improving government transparency.