Atiqullah Baryalai

General Atiqullah Baryalai (Persian: عتیق‌الله بریالی; born 1965) is a key military figure as Lieutenant General. He was a senior commander of the North-Eastern Front; playing a critical role in the fight against the USSR Invasion of Afghanistan, Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He served as the deputy Defense Minister of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. General Baryalai also headed the successful Disarmament Demobilization and Re-integration Commission (DDR), the Revival and Rebuilding of National Army Commission and the Reform Committee of the Ministry of Defense until 2003.

General Atiqullah Baryalai was one of the key commanders Northern Alliance; he worked closely and extensively with its leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, in the resistance against the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the continuous fight against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and War on Terrorism. From the 1990s onwards, he developed innovative mechanized units that were crucial in defeating the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, later forming the foundation of Afghanistan’s national army. In 2001 General Baryalai recaptured numerous, vital territories against the Taliban such as in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz and Kabul.

He is a Tajik from Panjshir Province. General Baryalai studied at prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He was educated at Naderia High School, the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (BA, 1994) and University of East Anglia (MA International Relations and Development Studies, 2012).