Creder
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 1,935
- Reaction score
- 0
ISLAMABAD: General Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan's powerful army chief of staff, has masterminded decisive battles against the Taliban and kept the military out of politics.
As head of the largest branch of Pakistan's military, the 58-year-old is the most powerful man in the country and commands respect from the armed forces, civilian government and the masses, but is rarely in public.
He took command in late 2007, succeeding General Pervez Musharraf when he hung up his uniform in a bid to cling onto power.
Western-friendly, methodical and with a deep understanding of regional security, Kayani significantly reduced the army's role in politics, withdrawing hundreds of officers from government positions and upholding civilian rule.
Widely considered a general determined to improve Pakistan's image abroad, Kayani forged close relations with US generals and launched a series of sustained offensives against the Taliban against their northwest havens.
Those operations earned widespread praise in the United States and have contributed to a certain rapprochement in the testy relationship between Washington and Islamabad.
America's top military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, has praised him for taking bold steps, saying he has moved troops to the Afghan border, cracked down against militants and equipped the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
Kayani was also credited with helping prevent tensions with India over the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai from blowing up and was also seen as instrumental in helping to defuse a March 2009 political crisis at home.
Kayani is by nature a quiet and cool person. He is a man of few words. He listens to people more and speaks less, said one senior military official.
An avid golfer and president of the Pakistan Golf Association in his free time, Kayani is a chain smoker known to favour cups of tea.
He was born into a working class family in April 1952 in a suburb of Rawalpindi, the garrison city where the Pakistan military is headquartered.
His father was a non-commissioned officer from Punjab, where the army draws much of its manpower, and Kayani's meteoric rise after joining the army in 1971 is a rarity in Pakistan's privilege-dominated society.
Imbued with the qualities of head and heart, a formal military statement describes Kayani in gushing terms as a purposeful and pragmatic commander.
Excellence and perfection remain the hallmark of his personality, it said.
Like other Pakistani officers fast-tracked for the top, Kayani underwent training in the United States, becoming a graduate of Fort Leavenworth military college and the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii.
Once a military assistant to the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto as well as a trusted protege of her rival Musharraf, Kayani has been recognised as a chameleon in surviving Pakistan's treacherous political waters.
He commanded several infantry units, including the Rawalpindi Corps whose 111 Brigade led all four military coups that have ruled Pakistan for more than half its 63-year history.
In 2004, Musharraf appointed him head of the premier spy agency, the much-feared Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), whose allegiance in the war on Al-Qaeda and battle against the Taliban has been a source of concern in the West.
His ascendancy to the chief of staff position three years later makes him the only Pakistani in history to have served in both coveted positions.
Kayani is married with a son and a daughter. AFP
As head of the largest branch of Pakistan's military, the 58-year-old is the most powerful man in the country and commands respect from the armed forces, civilian government and the masses, but is rarely in public.
He took command in late 2007, succeeding General Pervez Musharraf when he hung up his uniform in a bid to cling onto power.
Western-friendly, methodical and with a deep understanding of regional security, Kayani significantly reduced the army's role in politics, withdrawing hundreds of officers from government positions and upholding civilian rule.
Widely considered a general determined to improve Pakistan's image abroad, Kayani forged close relations with US generals and launched a series of sustained offensives against the Taliban against their northwest havens.
Those operations earned widespread praise in the United States and have contributed to a certain rapprochement in the testy relationship between Washington and Islamabad.
America's top military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, has praised him for taking bold steps, saying he has moved troops to the Afghan border, cracked down against militants and equipped the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
Kayani was also credited with helping prevent tensions with India over the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai from blowing up and was also seen as instrumental in helping to defuse a March 2009 political crisis at home.
Kayani is by nature a quiet and cool person. He is a man of few words. He listens to people more and speaks less, said one senior military official.
An avid golfer and president of the Pakistan Golf Association in his free time, Kayani is a chain smoker known to favour cups of tea.
He was born into a working class family in April 1952 in a suburb of Rawalpindi, the garrison city where the Pakistan military is headquartered.
His father was a non-commissioned officer from Punjab, where the army draws much of its manpower, and Kayani's meteoric rise after joining the army in 1971 is a rarity in Pakistan's privilege-dominated society.
Imbued with the qualities of head and heart, a formal military statement describes Kayani in gushing terms as a purposeful and pragmatic commander.
Excellence and perfection remain the hallmark of his personality, it said.
Like other Pakistani officers fast-tracked for the top, Kayani underwent training in the United States, becoming a graduate of Fort Leavenworth military college and the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii.
Once a military assistant to the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto as well as a trusted protege of her rival Musharraf, Kayani has been recognised as a chameleon in surviving Pakistan's treacherous political waters.
He commanded several infantry units, including the Rawalpindi Corps whose 111 Brigade led all four military coups that have ruled Pakistan for more than half its 63-year history.
In 2004, Musharraf appointed him head of the premier spy agency, the much-feared Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), whose allegiance in the war on Al-Qaeda and battle against the Taliban has been a source of concern in the West.
His ascendancy to the chief of staff position three years later makes him the only Pakistani in history to have served in both coveted positions.
Kayani is married with a son and a daughter. AFP
