The Last Commander: The Once and Future Battle for Afghanistan – A Book Talk with Author Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat
On Monday, October 28, the Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project and Clements Center for National Security will host Lt. General Sami Sadat, Chairman of the Afghanistan United Front and former Commanding General of the Afghan National Special Operations Corps, for a book talk on his recent release The Last Commander: The Once and Future Battle for Afghanistan.
Garage parking is available for a fee at the San Jacinto Garage. Parking cannot be validated.
Biography
Lt. General Sami Sadat is the chairman of the Afghanistan United Front, a political organization that is leading an opposition against the Taliban and headquartered in Northern Virginia. General Sadat was former Commanding General of the Afghan National Special Operations Corps. In 2020, he commanded the Afghan National Army’s 215 Maiwand Corps in southwestern Afghanistan. In 2019, he was commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). During this time, General Sadat initiated a program in which hundreds of operations were conducted to release Afghan Security Forces prisoners held by the Taliban in the villages. This resulted in the release of over 500 Afghan prisoners in Taliban controlled areas. At JSOC, he developed the Combined Situational Awareness Room concept in which all branches of the U.S. military and Afghan military worked in an integrated Command Center. This resulted in intensified counterterrorism operations in 2019, the worst year for the Taliban on the battlefield. Prior to his return to the military, he was Chairman of Delta Group of companies based in Dubai, leading his family businesses based in Afghanistan and the Middle East for two years.
General Sadat also served as a senior director in the Afghan intelligence services. He served as director of the covert action program from 2014 to 2016. General Sadat took charge of an elite clandestine counterterrorism unit leading Afghan and U.S. intelligence joint clandestine counterterrorism activities. Until 2018, his team was in charge of pursuing Al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan. During his time, his unit found Haidar Gilani, the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani, who was kidnaped by Al-Qaida. In 2017, his unit’s operation killed Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of Harkat Jihad Islami of Pakistan, who assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Many Al-Qaida related terror leaders were captured or killed as result of counterterrorism operations led by General Sadat.
He is a graduate of the Joint Services Command and Staff College at the Defence Academy of the U.K., Class of 2011 (ACSC 14). General Sadat went to the Polish Defence Academy where he completed the Battalion Command Course and the NATO Military Academy in Munich, Germany. In addition, he holds an MA in Strategic Management and Leadership from the U.K. Charter Management Institute.