Born into a military family, Asghar Khan briefly served as an officer in the Indian Army before being deputed to the Royal Indian Air Force (IAF) as a military adviser in 1941— he was later drafted into the IAF as its commanding officer on the Asian front of World War II. After the Partition of India In 1947, Khan chose to join the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and later secured promotion as a three star rank air officer when he was appointed in 1957 as Commander-in-chief to command the PAF at the age of 36 – the youngest officer at the command level in the Pakistani military at that time. In 1965, his dissent with General Musa Khan, the Army Commander in Chief, over the Operation Gibraltar area contingency plans, and vetoing decisions to go on the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, eventually led to his replacement with Air Marshal Malik Nur Khan. Asghar Khan continued to serve with his rank when he was deputed as a Pakistan International Airlines's executive, until retiring in 1968.