Asad Ahmed Durrani | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Asad Ahmed Durrani |
| Nickname | Fire Fox |
| Born | (1941-02-07)February 7, 1941 (age 84) |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Branch |  Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1959–1993 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant General |
| Unit | Corps of Military Intelligence |
| Commands |
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| Battles / wars | |
| Awards |  Hilal-i-Imtiaz |
Asad Ahmed Durrani (Urdu:اسد أحمد درانی; born 7 February 1941) is a retired3-star rankgeneral in thePakistan Army and presently a commentator, speaker and author.[2] Durrani previously served as aDirector General of theISI and formerDirector General of the Pakistan Army'sMilitary Intelligence.
Durrani was born in 1941 inRawalpindi,British India into aDurraniPashtun family. From 1957 to 1959, he attended theGovernment College of Lahore, now a university, where he received aBachelor of Science degree.
He joined the Pakistan Army in 1959.[3] and subsequently joined thePakistan Military Academy[4] In 1960, he was commissioned asSecond Lieutenant in the army as a gunner officer. As a captain he participated in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, where he commanded his company.[4] In 1968, he was promoted to major. He also took part in the 1971 war against India.[4]
Durrani has been in key posts, including an instructorship at the officers' academy and later at theCommand and Staff College in Quetta,Director GeneralMilitary Intelligence from 1988 to 1989;[5]Director General of theISI[6] from 1990 to 1991, Inspector General Training and Evaluation at the General Headquarters and Commandant at theNational Defence College.
Durrani is a graduate from theGeneral Staff Academy, Germany. He has also been Pakistan's military attaché to Germany from 1980 to 1984. After retiring from the army, he was Pakistan's ambassador to Germany (1994–97) and Saudi Arabia (2000–02).[4][7]
In 1994, former Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif accused Durrani andMirza Aslam Beg of wanting to sell "heroin to pay for the country's covert military operations in early 1991."[8]
In 2008, Durrani acknowledged "distributing money to the alliance against Benazir Bhutto" in the1993 Pakistani general election.[9]
In 2015, Durrani toldMehdi Hasan in anAl Jazeera interview at theOxford Union that it was “probable” the Pakistani government knewOsama bin Laden’s location and “the idea was that at the right time, his location would be revealed. And the right time would have been when you can get the necessary quid pro quo.”[10][11]
In 2018, he co-authoredThe Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace withA. S. Dulat, former head of theResearch and Analysis Wing.[12][13] He was supposed to attend the book release with Dulat in India, but the Indian government denied him avisa.[14] Subsequently, he received a summons to appear beforeGeneral Headquarters over the book[15] and was placed on theExit Control List.[16]
Former Prime Minister of PakistanNawaz Sharif demanded that theNational Security Committee (NSC) should discuss the book.[17] However, in October 2018, Asad Durrani's lawyer said they had not received any notice of an inquiry and sought the removal of Asad Durrani's name from the Exit Control List.[18]
Shazar Shafat, a security analyst, suggests two reasons inSouth Asian Voices (hosted byThe Stimson Center) as to why Asad Durrani may be facing the backlash. The first is related to Durrani's comments onAkhand Bharat in the book and the second is in relation to comments onKulbhushan Jadhav.[19][20] However, a report by CNN found that the book (as well as a pirated PDF version) was freely available in Pakistan and that the Pakistani governments "overreaction", according toHassan Askari Rizvi and other defence analysts, may be because Durrani did not get prior permissions for such a book.[21][22]
On 22 February 2019, Asad Durrani was found guilty of violating Pakistan's Military Code of Conduct for co-writing the book.[23][24] Asad Durrani's pension and other allowances have been withdrawn and it is yet to be decided if he should be taken off the Exit Control List or not.[25][26]
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| Preceded by | Director General of theInter-Services Intelligence 1990 – 1992 | Succeeded by |
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