Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf was born in 1937 and commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment of the Pakistan Army in 1961. During his career he attended both the Command and Staff College at Quetta and the National Defence College at Rawalpindi. In October 1983, as a brigadier, he was selected to take a charge of the Afghan Bureau of ISI. In this capacity he was responsible, under General Akhtar, for the day to day coordination of the Mujahideen operations and logistic support in the Afghan Jehad. During his four years in this post the Mujahideen came within sight of victory over both the Soviets and the Afghan Communist regime in Kabul.