Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan)

Abdul Karim Mustaghni was army chief of staff until the 1973 overthrow of the monarchy.^[2] Under the rule of Hafizullah Amin, his brother in law Mohammed Yaqub served as Chief of the General Staff until being executed by Soviet-Parcham forces in December of 1979. In the late 1980s, during the communist regime, Nazar Mohammad served as army chief of staff, followed by Shahnawaz Tanai, from the Khalq faction of the PDPA^[3] (August 1988 – March 1990), who was succeeded by Mohammed Asif Delawar following the 1990 coup attempt, which was led by Tanai.

Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978)

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1992)

Afghan Armed Forces (Islamic Republic era)

No.	Portrait	Chief of General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
1		Mohammadi, BismullahLieutenant general Bismillah Khan Mohammadi (born 1961)	8 March 2002	30 June 2010	8 years, 114 days	Afghan National Army	[5][6]
2		Karimi, SherGeneral Sher Mohammad Karimi (born 1945)	30 June 2010	22 May 2015	4 years, 326 days	Afghan National Army	[5][7]
3		Shahim, QadamGeneral Qadam Shah Shahim (born 1962)	22 May 2015	24 April 2017	1 year, 337 days	Afghan National Army	[5][8]
4		Yaftali, MohammadLieutenant general Mohammad Sharif Yaftali	26 April 2017	13 March 2019	1 year, 323 days	Afghan National Army	[5][9]
5		Waziri, BismillahLieutenant general Bismillah Waziri	13 March 2019	7 July 2020	1 year, 116 days	Afghan National Army	[5]
6		Zia, YasinLieutenant general Yasin Zia	7 July 2020	19 June 2021	347 days	Afghan National Army	[10]
7		Ahmadzai, Wali MohammadLieutenant general Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai	19 June 2021	11 August 2021	53 days	Afghan National Army	[11]
8		Alizai, HebatullahLieutenant general Hebatullah Alizai	11 August 2021	15 August 2021	4 days	Afghan National Army	[12][13]

Islamic Emirate Armed Forces

No.	Portrait	Chief of General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
1		Fasihuddin, QariQari Fasihuddin	7 September 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 233 days*	Islamic National Army	[14]

* Incumbent's time in office last updated: 27 April 2024.

• Nyrop, Richard F.; Donald M. Seekins (January 1986). Area Handbook Series: Afghanistan: A Country Study. Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Technical Information Center.