Ajmal Obaid Abidy

The DDO position was the second in command within the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s national intelligence service.

• My portfolio included leading counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence, and signal intelligence operations of the service.

The position was directly reporting to the Director General of the NDS.

• My portfolio in this position included leading the covert influence operations, intelligence analysis, open source analysis, policy and planning initiatives, the NDS Academy efforts, and relations with the Parliament.

• As Chief Spokesman to the President, I was responsible for leading the strategic communications of the President including managing media relations, develop strategic messages, and prepare President’s speeches.

• Developed and implemented broadcasting policy for Aria TV to educate younger generation of Afghanistan
• Also developed and implemented organizational structure, human resources management policy, financial policy and other operational policies and ensured business process were sound and able to deliver in the strategic objective of the channel
• Led and managed the overall activities of the organization – with more than 80 personnel – in order to create aware and responsible citizenship in the country through TV programs.
• Managed partnerships and strategic business relationships by negotiating contract terms and handling conflicts.

• Led the USAID-granted national civic education campaign to encourage political and civic engagement in Afghanistan through face-to-face civic education sessions, in which participants were able to learn the principles of democracy, civil rights, the rule of law and the structure of government
• More than 127,900 face-to-face sessions in all 34 provinces from 2009 to 2011, with more than 303 million Afghans participating, were convened.

• Administrated day-to-day political and media activities, including: campaign strategies, speeches, political communication directives, and priorities
• Managed Media and Communication Department to schedule and prioritize television, radio and print interviews, press conferences and policy releases
• Represented the candidate and conducted interviews with national and international media.

• Managed overall operation and program activities of the Association of Afghan Electoral Officials (AAEO) in coordination with Support to the Electoral Process (STEP) program
• Developed and implemented membership development policy with the focus on professional membership increase at the provincial Level
• Represented the Association in different meetings with the Independent Election Commission, donors, government organizations, media and other stakeholders
• Created partnership with similar organizations in Asia, Europe and the United States.

• Designed, planned, budgeted and implemented a public legal awareness campaign for Supporting Justice System of Afghanistan Project and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice in order to support the public Legal Awareness Department
• Also provided capacity building trainings for the staff of public Awareness Department of the Ministry of Justice.

• Supported the team leader to effectively conduct evaluation and assessment of elections and political parties in Afghanistan with provision of analysis on different political parties and political situation in Afghanistan.

• Afghanistan Stabilization Program (ASP) was one of the National Priority Programs of the Government of Afghanistan led by an Inter-Ministerial Task Force with the aim to bring stability in the country and expand the influence of central government across the country
• Coordinated the establishment, tactical direction, management and operation of the Program Management Unit
• Established coordination with donors, ISAF/NATO, government organizations and other stakeholders
• Also led and managed the media activities of the ASP and acted as spokesman of the organization.

• Developed provincial situation reports and provided analysis of different conflicts happened in various parts of the country;
• Conduced regular meetings with youths to convey their messages, needs, wishes, suggestion and objection to the president;
• Contributed in creating talking points for the President for his different international and national speeches; and
• Also coordinated the creation of Presidential Protective Service (PPS) with the representatives of the US State Department.

• Conducted course lectures on System Analysis in the Department of Computer Science of Science Faculty.

• Hold the United Nations Development Program’s contract and were seconded to the Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority
• Led the World Bank funded project to provide technology and the internet access to essential government offices and key ministries including the Presidential Palace, Ministry of Reconstruction, Ministry of Finance, Office of National Security Advisor, and Kabul University.