The first secretary general of the tripartite Makkah Defence Alliance, retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood, is assuming the role after a career in the Pakistan Army spanning field command, intelligence, strategic analysis and professional military education.

The three participating countries in the alliance decided last month that a Pakistani nominee would head its secretariat as the first secretary general. The first term puts Lt Gen Mahmood in the position of a “direction-setter” during the alliance’s formative years as it builds its institutional structure.

His immediate task in Riyadh will be to help build the institutional machinery of the alliance that is still in its early stages, requiring coordination among the participating countries and the translation of political commitments into practical security arrangements.

A Baloch Regiment officer, he was commissioned into the Pakistan Army in September 1987. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, the Command and Staff College in Egypt and the National Defence University, Islamabad, and holds a master’s degree in War Studies.

A substantial part of his career was spent at the Command and Staff College, where he served in different instructional capacities before becoming chief instructor. The posting not only gave him extensive experience in training officers but also exposed him to military strategy and operational planning.

As a major general, he commanded an infantry division in North Waziristan, where the army had been engaged in counterterrorism operations for several years.

His next assignment took him from the battlefield to the intelligence community when he was appointed director general of the Analysis Directorate at Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

At the ISI, his work involved assessing developments abroad from a national security perspective, making the assignment particularly relevant to Pakistan’s foreign policy and strategic decision-making. The position also brought him into contact with foreign intelligence agencies as part of the ISI’s external liaison.

He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in April 2019 and appointed inspector general of Communications and Information Technology at General Headquarters. In December that year, he moved to Peshawar to take command of XI Corps.

His tenure as corps commander coincided with one of the most sensitive periods along Pakistan’s western border. The US was preparing to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, while Pakistan was pressing ahead with the fencing of the frontier and dealing with the security fallout from the rapidly changing situation across the border.

Lt Gen Mahmood relinquished command of XI Corps in Nov 2021 and was subsequently appointed president of the National Defence University in Islamabad, becoming the 35th head of the institution. He remained in the post until he retired from the army in April 2023.

He was also among the officers believed to be contenders for elevation to the post of chief of army staff during the last transition in 2022.

Lt Gen Mahmood’s military career has taken him through several areas that are now relevant to his role in the new alliance, from command of a formation in the former tribal areas and responsibility for a sensitive section of the Afghanistan border to intelligence analysis, foreign liaison and the teaching of national security and strategic affairs.