Shahryar came to the United States in 1956 to study, worked as a solar engineer for aerospace companies, and later founded and ran two solar-energy companies in the Los Angeles area. He became a U.S. citizen but had to revoke that citizenship to take the ambassadorship.
A longtime associate of former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah, Shahryar represents the government of Hamid Karzai, who became Afghanistan's new president in the summer of 2002.