Muhammad Arif Sarwari

Sarwari studied electronics at a technical college, later transferring to Kabul Polytechnic.{{cite news|url=http://www.parliament.af/pme/showdoc.aspx?Id=12 |title=Meshrano Jirga |publisher=Government of Afghanistan |accessdate=2009-07-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113173536/http://www.parliament.af/pme/showdoc.aspx?Id=12 |archivedate=November 13, 2009}} He did not complete his studies, instead joining the anti-Soviet resistance in 1982 during the Soviet–Afghan War. In 1992, after the ouster of the communists, he was appointed the chief of security of Kabul. He later served as the first deputy of National Directorate of Security. When the Taliban seized Kabul he joined the forces of Ahmad Shah Masoud, who was later to lead the Afghan Northern Alliance.

During the first Taliban rule, Sarwari was the chief intelligence official of the Northern Alliance under Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Massoud's September 9, 2001 assassination took place in Aref's office.

{{cite book

| isbn = 978-0-8021-4025-8

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4A20pk2lNLEC&q=engineer

| title = The Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan

| publisher = Grove Press

| year = 2003

| author = Jon Lee Anderson, Thomas Dworzak

| accessdate = 2010-12-05

| page = 192

| quote = Engineer Muhammad Aref ('engineer' is a common Afghan honorific, indicating that someone is educated and has studied engineering), who is now the head of Afghan intelligence services, was Massoud's chief of security; it was in his office that the assassination took place.

}}

After the September 11 attacks, he was a major figure in coordinating with the CIA's Jawbreaker team, which worked with the Northern Alliance and prepared the way for further military operations. After the fall of Kabul, Sarwari and his organization took over the existing Afghan National Directorate of Security, but he was removed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in early 2004 and replaced by Amrullah Saleh.

Sarwari was Governor of Panjshir Province {{as of|2017|03|lc=yes}}.

After the Taliban captured Kabul in 2022, he was evacuated out of Afghanistan and into Kosovo.{{Cite web |last=Ott |first=Haley |date=2022-06-29 |title=Afghan official evacuated by U.S. says he and his family living "like prisoners" on American military base in Kosovo - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghan-refugees-stuck-like-prisoners-american-military-base-kosovo/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}

Sarwari is married and has two sons and three daughters. He speaks Dari, Pashto, Russian and English.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite news | title= Panjsher Governor Accused of Smuggling Lazuli | date= 2017-03-14 |newspaper= Ariana News | url= https://ariananews.af/panjsher-governor-accused-of-smuggling-lazuli/ |access-date= 2021-09-15 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170316015007/https://ariananews.af/panjsher-governor-accused-of-smuggling-lazuli/ |archive-date= 2017-03-16 |url-status=live }}

}}

• {{cite news |first=Carlotta |last=Gall |title=Afghan Leader Removes Chief Of Intelligence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/world/afghan-leader-removes-chief-of-intelligence.html?pagewanted=1 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2004-02-05 |accessdate=2010-01-29}}
• {{cite book |authorlink=Gary Schroen |first=Gary C. |last=Schroen |title=First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=2005 |isbn=0-89141-872-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/firstininsidersa00schr }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarwari, Muhammad Arif}}

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the House of Elders (Afghanistan)

Category:Governors of Panjshir Province

Category:Kabul Polytechnic University alumni

Category:1961 births