ATTENTION: International, war and local TV and print news reporters, photographers and editors

WHAT: Talk by Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, about efforts to secure peace in his war-torn country. At a reception following his talk at the University of California, Berkeley, Jawad and his wife, Shamim, will receive thousands of coins collected from UC Berkeley students to aid the rebuilding Afghanistan. The reception also will feature costumed Afghan dancing. Shamim Jawad is international chair of the "Roots of Peace" penny campaign, whose mission is to turn minefields into thriving agricultural lands.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 17, 1-3 p.m., with reception to follow.

WHERE: Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall. The reception will be held in the Howard Room at The Faculty Club. See campus map at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/

DETAILS: After two decades in exile, Jawad, an MBA graduate of San Francisco's Golden Gate University, moved back to Afghanistan shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was Afghan President Hamid Karzai's press secretary, chief of staff and director of international relations before being appointed ambassador to the United States. Co-sponsors of the event include UC Berkeley's International and Area Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Roots of Peace and the Rotary Peace and Conflict Center.