Pre-KhAD (-1979)

Afghanistan had an intelligence agency known as the Istikhbarat (Persian: استخبارات), Intelligence or the Intelligence Report Directorate.^[6][7] However, observers have stated it was incompetent with Afghan leaders since it was ineffective as they preferred to use their personal connections instead.^[8]

After the events of the Saur Revolution, the PDPA established AGSA (Da Afghanistan da Gato da Saatane Adara or Afghan Agency for Safeguarding National Interest) as its domestic/foreign intelligence agency^[4] with Assadullah Sarwari serving as its first director.^[9] Sarwari was known for torturing anyone who disagreed with the PDPA.^[10] AGSA operations eventually led to an anti-PDPA insurgency.^[11]

AGSA was additionally involved in the hangings of Parcham members in 1978 and the executions of the following people:^[12]

• Colonel Hidayatullah (Head of Operations of the Ministry of Defense)
• Major Arif
• Major Khaleelullah (Chief of Staff of the 242nd Parachute Battalion)
• Major Mohammed Anwar
• Major Jilani
• Major Seyair
• Major Shir Jan (242nd Parachute Battalion officer)
• Major Sayd Zamanudeen (242nd Parachute Battalion officer)
• Major Abdul Baqi
• Captain Mohammed Karim
• Major Inayat
• Commander Mohammed Musa (Afghan Air Force and Air Defense commander who received his Chief of Army Staff diploma from the United States)
• General Mohammed Younus (11th Division Commander)
• Commander Nowruz (Commander of the 7th Division’s 55th Regiment)
• General Sayd Abdul Ghani Khan
• General Mohammed Safar Khan Nuristani
• General Ahmad Shah Gardezi
• Lieutenant General Mohammed Musa Nuristani

In September 1979, AGSA was replaced with KAM (Komite-ye Amniyat-e Melli or National Security Committee)^{[lower-alpha 1]} under Hafizullah Amin's direction.^[4][9] Several AGSA officials were either placed under surveillance or were arrested.^[11] KAM had a total of 7000 employees.^[1][2]

Aziz Ahmed Akbari was called in to take over from Sarwari when he took refuge in the Soviet Embassy.^[13] After two months, Assadullah Amin was appointed by his uncle to lead KAM.^[13] KAM did not last long after the Soviets officially entered Afghanistan in 1979.^[11]

KhAD (1980-1986)

KHAD was created on 10 January 1980^[14] and was officially announced by President Babrak Karmal, with 1,200 personnel inside the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan who took over intelligence responsibilities from KAM in December 1979, with most of them being pro-Parchamites. The group was known as “the activists”^[15] and was active until March 1980,^[4] being initially headed by Mohammad Najibullah,^[16] alongside Dr. Baha^[4] who worked on establishing the structure that would later be referred to as KHAD.

After Soviet troops were deployed in Afghanistan, KhAD was expanded with Moscow's assistance, which includes sophisticated torture equipment.^[10] Najibullah took the opportunity of his post to rise within the PDPA before Major-General Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi took over KHAD duties in November 1985.^[17] Soviet advisors were known to work alongside KhAD personnel and major decisions are not made without their input.^[4] In some instances, KHAD agents accompanied KGB Kaskad (Cascade) operators on anti-mujahideen infiltration ops.^[18][19] KhAD personnel were also authorised to use any strategies necessary to ensure they did not disclose their identities as officers of the agency, as a former KhAD advisor stated that Pakistanis did not want to capture KhAD Special Forces operatives alive.^[20][21]

The agency's manpower increased from 1,200 to nearly 70,000 personnel.^[19] KHAD was able to turn some mujahideen groups to work with the PDPA by providing incentives such as small arms or money in return for their loyalty by attending loya jirgas and other pro-PDPA activities.^[22][19]

They've worked with the KGB to fund and assist Murtaza Bhutto for his involvement in the hijacking of Pakistan International Airlines Flight 326 and with Baluchistan and Sind dissidents, according to files obtained by Vasili Mitrokhin from KGB files.^[23][19] KHAD's infiltration of various mujahideen groups did help to contribute to some of the infighting.^[23][19]

Post-KhAD (1986-2001)

On 9 January 1986, KhAD was changed with its name to WAD (Wazarat-e Amaniat-e Dowlati or Ministry of State Security).^[17] It was reported that WAD was placed in charge of controlling the Kabul Garrison.^[17] Its budget and size were expanded.^[11] However WAD would still often be referred to as KhAD by the US government and the CIA. In 1987 KhAD was behind many terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil including the Karachi Car bombing and an attempted car bombing on the US Consulate in Peshawar which ended up killing over 30 people.^[24]

In 1989, WAD-led forces, more specifically the Special Guard and the 904th Battalion, fought in the Battle of Jalalabad.^[25] In March 1990, Lieutenant-General Shahnawaz Tanai attempted a coup, which was suppressed by the WAD-led National Guard (Gard-e-Mili) paramilitary force, not to be confused for the Afghan National Guard, General Khushal Peroz and Mohammad Aslam Watanjar.^[17]

During the civil war in the 1990s, Hezb-i-Islami, the Northern Alliance and the Taliban all recruited ex-KhAD officers and agents to act as their moles operating behind enemy territory.^[9]

Training

Kaskad operators were responsible for training KhAD personnel.^[19] KhAD officers had to go through a mandatory training course in Kabul where they were taught about military logistics, how to recruit potential officers, organisation and how to identify covert meetings and networks. KhAD officers, starting from first lieutenant to lieutenant colonel, were given mandatory training at the KGB School at Balashikha, Uzbekistan, and other KGB training facilities.^[31] Unlike the mandatory training in Kabul, the course in Tashkent included interrogation and criminal investigation techniques. High-ranking KhAD officers, starting from the rank of colonel and upwards, received additional mandatory training in Moscow. Unlike other techniques taught to officers in Kabul, Balashikha and Uzbekistan, the higher-ranking officers would receive training on management and policy issues, as well as financial affairs.^[32]

Prostitution Spy Rings

In mid-1985, the Soviet Union and Kabul launched psychological warfare against Pakistan in an attempt to morally destabilize society. As part of this strategy, the KGB and KHAD deployed hundreds of young girls of Afghan, Central Asian, and Russian origin to corrupt Pakistani society. This influx initially targeted the major urban centers such as Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, and Quetta.^[33] These groups of prostitutes strategically selected affluent areas in these cities and operated within a well-organized structure. Many of these prostitutes had connections to KGB and KHAD agents, with high-ranking government officials and Pakistan army officers being their primary targets.^[34] This led to the emergence of a "galemjum (prostitute) culture" in Pakistani society, which attracted professionals, the local commercial class, and frustrated youth in various urban centers.

State Sponsored Terrorism

According to a report by the US Defense Department, approximately 90% of the estimated 777 acts of international terrorism committed worldwide in 1987 took place in Pakistan.^[35] By 1988, KGB and KhAD agents were able to penetrate deep inside Pakistan and carry out attacks on mujahideen sanctuaries and guerrilla bases.^[36] There was strong circumstantial evidence implicating Moscow-Kabul in the August 1988 assassination of Zia ul-Haq, as the Soviets perceived that Zia wanted to adversely affect the Geneva process.^[37] WAD/KhAD has also been suspected behind the assassination of Palestinian jihadist Abdullah Yusuf Azzam alongside his son in 1989.^[38][39]

Afghanistan's KHAD was one of four secret service agencies accused of perpetrating terrorist bombings in multiple Pakistani cities including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi during the early 1980s resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.^[40] By the late 1980s, the US State Department blamed WAD for the perpetration of terrorist bombings in Pakistani cities.^[41][42] Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, Afghanistan security agencies supported the terrorist organization called al-Zulfiqar, the group that hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines plane from Karachi to Kabul in 1981.^[43] Notable attacks include the Karachi Car bombing and an attempted car bombing on the US Consulate in Peshawar which ended up killing over 30 people in 1987.^[24]

The Hathora Murders of Karachi

Around some time in 1985, Pakistani police in the city of Karachi were becoming alarmed by an increased number of killings. While the murders took place in different areas of the city, an investigation found these murders to be done in the same manner; a single blow to the head with a hathora (the word for "hammer" in Urdu). Upon investigation of the victims and their backgrounds, it was found that they were all street urchins or beggars on the streets.

None of the victims of the Hathora group survived apart from one person, who described the murderers as men in “white suits and black masks” who drove a white Suzuki vehicle. Upon realization that these murders were being committed by a group. newspapers across the nation began to report the victim's story and referred to these men as "the Hathora Group" oweing to their method of using hammers to murder their victims. Police didn’t know who these men were and what motives they had to do commit these murders. For a while, these cases of murders stopped and then finally resumed around some time in mid-1986. For nearly 2 years, the city of Karachi was terrorised by the horrors of such group, with civilians fearing they would enter their homes and be killed by the Hathora group.

Some Pakistani newspapers alluded that the Hathora group was actually made up of members of the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, and KHAD, who were striking back due to the Pakistani government backing the Afghan mujahideen against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.^[44] A sociologist, when asked about these killings, mentioned that the chaos that was occurring in Karachi was easily manipulated by groups for their own motives. The sociologist strongly believed that these killings were planned to spread more fear in the city, which could be the intention of KHAD and the motive behind the murders, although it is unknown if KHAD was behind these murders.

KhAD

KhAD was known to have the following organizational structures in place:^[4]

WAD

The WAD was known to have the following organizational structures in place:^[4]

• Directorate-General for Security: Ensure WAD's internal/external security.
• Directorate-General for Military Security: Successor of Military KHAD forces.
• Directorate-General for the Interior: Successor of Civilian KHAD activities on monitoring anti-government activities in and out of Afghanistan.