Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
![](/Images/godic/202501/22/Kayani_in_July_20101753.jpg")
![Gen. Kayani and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal (Commander of NATO ISAF and US Forces Afghanistan) during 29th Tripartite Commission meeting.](/Images/godic/202501/22/US-Afghan-Pakistani_military_men1754.jpg")
![April 24 2013, John Kerry bids farewell to General in Brussels, Belgium.](/Images/godic/202501/22/_State_John_Kerry_bids_farewell_to_Pakistani_Chief_of_Army_Staff_General_Ashfaq_Kayani_after_their_trilateral_meeting_with_Afghan_President_Hamid_Karzai_in_Brussels,_Belgium,_on_April_24,_20131754.jpg")
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, (Urdu:اشفاق پرویز کیانی, born 20 April 1952; NI(M), HI, is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chief of Army Staff from 29 November 2007 to 29 November 2013. He succeeded General Pervez Musharraf as the chief of army staff on 29 November 2007. He also held the acting charge of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from October to November 2013. In addition, General Kayani served as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and as director of the Directorate-General of Military Operations (DGMO). On 24 July 2010, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani extended Kayani's term as Chief of the Army Staff by three years, making him the first four-star officer to receive a term extension from any democratic government.