Akhtar Abdur Rahman

Who was Akhtar Abdur Rahman?

General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan or Akhtar Abdur Rehman Khan, was an influential statesman and a four-star rank general officer who tenured as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistan from 1987–1988 and as Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence from 1979-1987. As director of the ISI, Akhtar holds a world prestige for masterminding the resistance network against the Soviet Union in their war to protect the fragile regime, the Communist Afghanistan.

Close to General Zia-ul-Haq, Akhtar consolidated political power and was widely regarded as country's most powerful statesman to have an influence on country's covert and overt public policies. Being regarded as the consistent United States ally, he was a close friend of counterpart William Casey of Central Intelligence Agency. In 1988, he was killed in the mysterious plane crash along with President Zia and many other high-ranking officers of the Pakistan and United States Armed Forces, including United States ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel. After his death, two of his sons Humayun Akhtar Khan and Haroon Akhtar Khan later entered politics in Pakistan.