General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sher Mohammad Karimi (born November 11, 1945) was the Chief of Army Staff in the

Military of Afghanistan ("The land belongs to Allah, the rule belongs to Allah") , founded = 1997 , current_form = , branches = * Afghan Army * Afghan Air Force , headquarters = Kabul , website = , commander-in-chief ...

. An ethnic

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 re ...

, Karimi was born in

Khost Province Khost (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. To the east, Khost Province is bord ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. After the 1978

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution or Sowr Revolution ( ps, د ثور انقلاب; prs, إنقلاب ثور), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) ...

in Afghanistan, Karimi was arrested and incarcerated by the PDPA

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

because of his Western education. He was employed as a director during Dr. Mohammad Najibullah Government in ministry of defence. Unlike many of his communist colleagues and the majority of the Afghan officer corps, Karimi had never received training in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He was eventually forced into exile in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

until the removal of the

Taliban government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...

in late 2001. Karimi returned to his special-operations roots at

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in February 2010. Previously, he served as the Chief of Operations for the

Afghan Ministry of Defense ps, د ملي دفاع وزارت , logo = MOD Afghanistan emblem.png , logo_width = 200px , logo_caption = Emblem of the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , picture = , picture_width = ...

."Footage shows insurgents with U.S. ammo" Accessed at: http://www.afghanemb-canada.net/en/news_bulletin/2009/Nov/10/index.php

Education

Karimi isrban High School in

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He received his primary education at Sa, followed by a Military High School in Kabul. *

National Military Academy of Afghanistan The National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA) ( ps, د افغانستان ملي پوځي اکاډمي fa, آکادمی نظامی ملی افغانستان) was one of three academic institutions of the Marshal Fahim National Defense Unive ...

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

**Kabul Commando Course (C) Kabulst **CGSC (Staff Course A) Kabul *

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

in the United Kingdom *

** Infantry Advance Course, Ranger course, Special Forces Course. Airborne Course (USA) *Counter Insurgency and Intel Courses (India) ** NDC (India) *Commando Course (Egypt) *Near East and South Asia Strategic Studies. NESA.NDU (USA) Assignments: **Platoon Commander, Commando BN, Company Commander, XO Battalion **Battalion Commander **Adjutant Guard Brigade **G3 Division **DG2 Central Corps **DCS for Mobilization and Organization **Special Assistant to CoS and head of the Advisory Board **Deputy Chairman for DDR **G3 ANA – Chief Operations

References

External links

Living people Afghan military personnel Pashtun people 1945 births Afghan expatriates in Pakistan Afghan military officers {{Afghanistan-mil-bio-stub