Pakistan Khan commanded two engineers brigade company as captain and served as general staff officer (coordination) to then general officer commanding of the 1st Armoured division, major general
Yaqub Khan in 1965. He was promoted to major in January 1970 and soon posted in an engineers construction battalion near
Chilas. During the
Bangladesh Liberation War, one of his officers captain
Mohiuddin Jahangir defected to join the
Mukti Bahini in 1971. Khan was soon transferred to
Peshawar and was detained by the
Pakistan Army. He was repatriated to the
Bangladesh Army in April 1972.
Bangladesh Khan was designated as deputy adjutant and quartermaster of the
14th Independent Engineers Brigade in 1972. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December 1973 and served as the director of engineer division of
Dacca Municipality. Khan was the upgraded to colonel in August 1974 and served as deputy commandant of Engineer Centre and School and School of Military Engineering. Khan transferred to army headquarters in May 1975. During the
assassination of Sheikh Mujib, Khan was serving as Director of Military Operations at army headquarters. Khan was then promoted to brigadier general in July 1976 and retain his position before returning to Engineer Centre and School and School of Military Engineering as commandant in October 1976. He was soon then promoted to major general in February 1978 and became one of the pioneer commanders of the
33rd Infantry Division. Khan also tenured as general officer commanding of
9th Infantry Division in June 1978. In December 1980, Khan succeeded major general
Muhammed Abul Manzur as the
chief of the general staff. == Political career ==