Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Asad Ahmed Durrani ( ur, اسد أحمد‎ درانی; born 7 February 1941) is a retired 3-star rank

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

and presently a commentator, speaker and author. Durrani previously served as the

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

and former

of the Pakistan Army's

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...

Early life

Durrani was born in 1941 in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

into a

Durrani The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan ( Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, b ...

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

family. From 1957 to 1959, he attended the Government College of Lahore, now a university, where he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree.

Military career

He joined the Pakistan Army in 1959. and subsequently joined the

Pakistan Military Academy Pakistan Military Academy ( ur, ), also referred to by its acronym PMA. PMA is an officers training school located near Kakul village in the city and district of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established in 1947. It is the sole service academy ...

In 1960, he was commissioned as

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the army as a gunner officer. As a captain he participated in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, where he commanded his company. In 1968, he was promoted to major. He also took part in the 1971 war against India. Durrani has been in key posts, including an instructorship at the officers' academy and later at the

Command and Staff College in Quetta ( ''romanized'': Pir Sho Biyamooz Saadi)English: Grow old, learning Saadi ur, سیکھتے ہوئے عمر رسیدہ ہو جاؤ، سعدی , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'' in Deolali, British India) , closed ...

from 1988 to 1989;

of the

from 1990 to 1991, Inspector General Training and Evaluation at the General Headquarters and Commandant at the National Defence College. Durrani is a graduate from the General 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).

Controversies

In 1994, former Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

accused Durrani and

Mirza Aslam Beg General Mirza Aslam Beg ( ur, ; born 2 August 1931), also known as M. A. Beg, was a Pakistan Army officer, who served as the 3rd Chief of Army Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief of army staff came when his ...

of wanting to sell "heroin to pay for the country's covert military operations in early 1991." In 2008, Durrani acknowledged "distributing money to the alliance against Benazir Bhutto" in the

1993 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle. ...

. In 2015, Durrani told the press it was “probable” the Pakistani government knew Osama 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.”

''The Spy Chronicles''

In 2018, he co-authored '' The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace'' with A. S. Dulat, former head of the

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, ...

. He was supposed to attend the book release with Dulat in India, but the Indian government denied him a

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

. Subsequently, he received a summons to appear before

General Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...

over the book and was placed on the

Exit Control List The Exit Control Lists (ECL; ur, ) is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981. The people on the list are prohibited from leaving Pakistan. Priorities 1. Exit from P ...

. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan

demanded that the National Security Committee (NSC) should discuss the book. 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. Shazar Shafat, a security analyst, suggests two reasons in ''South Asian Voices'' (hosted by

The Stimson Center The Stimson Center, named after American statesman, lawyer, and politician Henry L. Stimson, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that aims to enhance international peace and security through analysis and outreach. The center's stated approach ...

) as to why Asad Durrani may be facing the backlash. The first is related to Durrani's comments on

Akhand Bharat Akhand Bharat (), also known as Akhand Hindustan, is a term for the concept of a unified Greater India. The idea of Akhand Bharat in it's most widely accepted form is that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Myanmar ...

in the book and the second is in relation to comments on

Kulbhushan Jadhav Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav (also spelled Kulbhushan Yadav, alleged alias Hussain Mubarak Patel) (born 16 April 1970) is an Indian national. It is alleged by the Pakistani government that he was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan o ...

. 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 to Hassan Askari Rizvi and other defence analysts, may be because Durrani did not get prior permissions for such a book. On 22 February 2019, Asad Durrani was found guilty of violating Pakistan's Military Code of Conduct for co-writing the book. 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.

Bibliography

*Asad Durrani, '' The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace'' (with A. S. Dulat) (HarperCollins, 2018) *Asad Durrani, ''Pakistan Adrift: Navigating Troubled Waters'' (Hurst, 2018) *Asad Durrani, ''Honour Among Spies'' (HarperCollins, 2020)

References

External links

Lt. Gen (R) Asad Durrani: Afghanistan after 2014Strategic decision making in Pakistan
by Asad Durrani {{DEFAULTSORT:Durrani, Asad 1941 births Living people Pashtun people Pakistani generals Directors General of Inter-Services Intelligence Government College University, Lahore alumni Military personnel from Lahore Ambassadors of Pakistan to Germany Ambassadors of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia