Hamid Gul

Hamid Gul (Urdu: حمید گل, 20 November 1936 – 15 August 2015) was a Pakistani military officer and defence analyst. A three-star general, Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.

In addition, Gul is widely credited for expanding covert support to Kashmiri militants operating in Indian-administered Kashmir from 1989 onwards, diverting focus from the fallout of the Soviet war. Gul earned a reputation as a "godfather" of Pakistani geostrategic policies. For his role against India, he has been considered by A. S. Dulat, former director of R&AW, as "the most dangerous and infamous ISI chief in Indian eyes." He later turned against the United States and following an escalation of the Kashmir militancy in India and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the United States accused him of having ties to Islamic terrorist groups, notably Al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. One of his nicknames was "Father of the Taliban".

In 1988, Gul, with the support of general's Aslam Beg and Asad Durrani, played a key role in forming the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), a conservative political alliance created to prevent the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from winning the 1990 Pakistani general election. He appointed Nawaz Sharif as the leader of the IJI, who would later win the election with the help of the ISI.

On 15 August 2015, he died after suffering a brain haemorrhage.