Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai
Director of the National Directorate of Security
In office 6 May 2016 – 5 September 2019
President	Ashraf Ghani
Preceded by	Massoud Andarabi (acting)
Succeeded by	Ahmad Zia Saraj[1]
Acting Minister of Defence
In office 24 May 2015 – 4 May 2016
President	Ashraf Ghani
Preceded by	Bismillah Khan Mohammadi
Succeeded by	Abdullah Habibi
Personal details
Born	1958 Logar Province, Afghanistan
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Military service
Allegiance	Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Battles/wars	Soviet Afghan war War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai (Pashto: محمد معصوم ستانکزی; 1958) is a former Minister, Chief Peace Negotiator, and chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

He became the NDS chief in 2016. In 2019, he resigned following an extrajudicial killing of Afghan civilians by a joint US and NDS unit during a night raid in 2019.^[2]

Previously, he has served as Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology from 2002 to 2004 and later as a security advisor for President Hamid Karzai. He has also worked as the CEO of the joint secretariat of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program in 2009.^[3]

In May 2015, he was nominated as Minister of Defense by President Ashraf Ghani. However, his was repeatedly rejected by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house). He served as acting Minister of Defense for a year through Presidential decree, one of seven incumbents in the period between 2015 and August 2021.^[4]