Bismillah Khan Mohammadi Bismillah Khan Mohammadi ( ; born 1961 in Panjshir Province ) , or Bismillah Khan , is the current Defense Minister of Afghanistan . From 2002 to 2010 , he served as Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army and from 2010 to 2012 he held the post of Interior Minister of Afghanistan . He has an anti - Taliban background and once served as a senior commander under Ahmad Shah Massoud . Early years and career . Bismillah Khan Mohammadi was born in 1961 in the Panjshir Province of Afghanistan . An ethnic Tajik , he is the son of Ghausuddin of the Panjshir Valley . After graduating from 14th grade in Abu Hanifa Seminary he enrolled at Kabul Military University . Mohammadi was a former PDPA Parcham member , but after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan he aligned himself with mujahideen resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud . When the Taliban gained control over large parts of Afghanistan in 1996 establishing their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , Bismillah Khan served as Deputy Minister of Defense of the anti - Taliban and still recognized Islamic State of Afghanistan . He was a senior commander in the anti - Taliban resistance , the United Front ( Northern Alliance ) , led by Ahmad Shah Massoud . After the attacks of September 11 , 2001 , and the subsequent fall of the Taliban regime through United Front ground troops and the U . S . Air Force , Bismillah Khan was appointed commander of Kabul ' s police force and became a member of the Kabul Security Commission . During that period the security situation in Kabul was better than in other parts of Afghanistan . Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army . In 2002 , Bismillah Khan became Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army , a post he held until 2010 . Interior Minister . In June 2010 , Bismillah Khan was transferred from his position as Army Chief of Staff to the post of Interior Minister by President Hamid Karzai . As Interior Minister , Mohammadi has loudly deplored ethnic fractiousness within the Afghan security forces , and has called on Afghanistan ' s ethinic groups to come together in the interest of the country and Islam . By stressing national unity and Islamic ethics in the Afghan National Police , he may be able to get officers of different identities to work together , discourage them from pilfering supplies , and convince them to prevent their men from robbing and beating civilians , as he was at times able to do in the Afghan National Army . Mohammadi is committed to base police leadership appointments upon merit . The challenging tasks to prevent politics , ethnicity , tribalism , cronyism , and nepotism from influencing appointments will take perseverance and patience by Mohammadi . When Mohammadi was the army chief of staff , he was able to achieve substantial improvements in the army ’ s capabilities by championing meritocracy . With the police , he will need to redouble his efforts , for Karzai and other political figures have intruded into appointments more often with the police than the army . Mohammadi ’ s ties to the army also make him uniquely qualified to increase cooperation between the police and the army in the field . Such cooperation is essential , above all because most police units are not adequately prepared to deal with sizable groups of armed insurgents on their own . One advantage for appointing Mohammadi as the Minister of Interior is the hope of mending the rifts within the Afghan National Army that opened or widened as a result of the U . S . government ’ s plan to begin withdrawing forces in July 2011 . Expecting the eruption of a civil war after the American withdrawal , officers have been gravitating towards ethnic groupings and powerful generals , with Mohammadi and the Pashtu Defense Minister Wardak at the head of the two largest cliques . The departure of Mohammadi from the Ministry of Defense leaves no one who can rival Wardak in stature , which could mean a weakening of centrifugal forces . One of Mohammadi ' s strategies is to push greater authority down to local police commanders . When Mohammadi was the Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army , he enforced the decentralization process within an institution heavily influenced by senior officers who had been trained in the centralized model . A decentralized command requires a wide range to regulate due to the fact that some commanders lack the abilities and must be identified for help or removal . Upper - echelon commanders must get out of their headquarters and visit the field commanders , a practice alien to some senior Afghan officers . Fortunately , Mohammadi as well known for circulating the battlefield as an army commander , and has already implemented his regular process of making unannounced inspection trips to police stations at all hours of the day and night . Mohammadi undoubtedly will expect other senior commanders to do the same . As the Minister of the Interior , Mohammadi stressed the need to curb the corruption that has corroded the government and the people ’ s trust in it . Mohammadi has already begun taking some of the actions essential to the reduction of corruption . He is , for example , keeping tabs on the movements of Ministry of Interior officials , and has fired several police chiefs for corruption . Awards . Bismillah Khan Mohammadi has received the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani , Ghazi Amanullah Khan and Ahmad Shah Baba awards for his efforts in bolstering the Afghan National Army .