Akhtar Abdur Rahman
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General Akhtar Abdur Rahman (Urdu: اختر عبد الرحمن) was the Director of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, during the 1980s. Abdur Rahman was the mastermind, with the support of United States, behind the Afghani Mujahideen against the Soviet Union. He was a close friend of CIA chief William Casey.
Abdur Rahman was born in Rampur, India. He was educated at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla and later at La Martiniere, Lucknow. His family moved to Pakistan during the Partition of India.
On promotion to the rank of General, he was appointed Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Pakistan, succeeding the famed General Rahimuddin Khan. Akhtar's own successor as Director General ISI was Lieutenant General Hamid Gul.
He died in a mysterious plane crash that also killed then President Zia-ul-Haq and many other top generals heading the Soviet War in Afghanistan, along with an American ambassador to Pakistan.
Akhtar's son, Humayun Akhtar Khan, is the Minister of Commerce in the current government headed by Pervez Musharraf. Akhtar is projected as one of the most successful generals in Pakistan's history. He is also projected as hero by the military establishement.
| Preceded by Maj. General Riaz Khan |
Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence 1980–1987 |
Succeeded by Lt. General Hamid Gul |
| Preceded by General Rahimuddin Khan |
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1987–1988 |
Succeeded by Admiral Iftikhar Ahmad Sirohey |
