OUR TEAM

President

Steve Gates

Stephen Gates is the founder and President of the Afghan Scout Relief Fund. A mostly-retired attorney, Steve is a graduate of the University of Montana and the University of Baltimore School of Law. He has worked for the EPA and BLM throughout the mountain West, worked as general counsel for an investment bank and has extensive experience in policy advocacy, including a decade in Washington, D.C. He lives with his spouse Perihan in Taos, New Mexico.

Communications and Government Relations Director

Aydin Gates

Aydin (27), with a BA in Environmental Studies from Colorado College, co-founded and continues to work on initiatives, outreach and publicity to support ASRF students and expand the program. His role includes administrative upkeep, communication of organizational initiatives and coordination of the needs and contributions of students and stakeholders, donor relations and fundraising, and government relations. For the past year, Aydin has led a coalition building effort to expand the voice and the reach of ASRF and its students in the halls of Congress and with individuals and organizations who want to see Afghan women realize their human right to an education and pursue an inspired future.

In Congress, ASRF has met with over 50 offices and worked closely with the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Organizations ASRF has collaborated with include:

President’s Alliance on Immigration and Higher Education
Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund
Uplifting Afghan Girls
Afghan Evac Coalition
Evacuate our Allies Coalition
EmpowerHer Initiative
NAVA International
Refugees International
High schools and colleges nationwide
Organizations that bring women’s education into Afghanistan

Aydin is excited to continue conversations and collaborations to protect the educational opportunity of students studying in the United States and to help more Afghan students pursue their education abroad.

Volunteer and Sponsor Family Coordinator

Kirsten Laney

Kirsten first joined ASRF in 2023 as a host mom for an incoming student and soon became ASRF’s Host Family Representative, helping to create hosting and student guidelines, and interfacing with prospective hosts. She worked to locate, vet, and support host families. Kirsten has created fundraisers and has traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for Afghan students. Additionally, she has located scholarship opportunities for students to help them have a clear path forward.

Strategy and Planning

Mike Weinstein

Mike became involved with ASRF when he helped a student get into a high school in the United States and in the process connected us with a number of students attending an underground school who came to the US to study. As a professional business strategist, he is kindly volunteering his expertise to develop organizational planning and strategy as we seek to expand our ability to help more Afghan women pursue an education over the coming years.

College Guidance Counselor and Partner Organization

Megan Ortagus

ASRF and Megan’s organization Uplifting Afghan Girls have been working closely together on advocacy and relationship building in DC to raise awareness of Afghan Women’s Education and create pathways forward for our students in their studies. Megan has been working closely with many of our students on college guidance, sharing her wealth of knowledge of scholarship and admissions processes.

Book Club Coordinator

Mursal

Mursal is the person who makes sure that windows stays open. As Administrator of the Afghan Girls’ Book Club, Mursal leads the daily coordination that keeps the program alive — connecting moderators, coordinators, and students, organizing new groups, and ensuring every session runs with the structure and care it deserves. Her steady, hands-on leadership has turned a small pilot project into a growing lifeline for young women who have been shut out of classrooms and public life.

Mursal’s organizational support has also helped launch the program’s Art Therapy Project, giving Afghan girls from different provinces a creative outlet for processing what words alone cannot express — a new and necessary form of mental health support in a moment when so many other doors have been closed.

Her work is a reminder that resilience is built one session, one book, one connection at a time — and that behind every thriving book club is someone making sure it never stops meeting.