[2] Abdul Waheed Kakar was born into a Pashtun family of the Abdullah Zai (Male Zai), in the Shahābzai Kakari tribe village of Zhob, Balochistan, in the suburbs of Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province in British India (now, Pakistan) on 23 March 1937.: 2 [3] His tribe, Kakar, originally hailed from Zhob, Baluchistan in Pakistan, and was fluent in Pashto.

: 502 [8] Eventually, Waheed gained commission in the Frontier Force Regiment in 1959 as a 2nd-Lt.: 85–86 [9] His combat duty witnessed the military actions in Chawinda in Sialkot Punjab in Pakistan against the Indian Army during the conflict with India in 1965.: 2–3 [10] In 1971, Major Kakar served as the brigade major of an independent infantry stationed at the Sulemanki sector, and fought against the Indian Army.

[6] After the war, Major Kakar was selected to attend the Command and Staff College in Canada, where he stood first in the examinations and qualified as a psc.

: 572 [15] Without consulting the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan nominated and approved the appointment papers of junior-most Lt-Gen. Kakar to the promotion of senior four-star rank when elevating him as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

"[6] After assuming the command of the army as its army chief and contrary to the expectations of President Ghulam Ishaq, General Kakar played a decisive role in resolving the constitutional crises by securing first the resignation of President Ghulam Ishaq and later Prime Minister Sharif in 1993.: 303–304 [19] This allowed the holding of the nationwide general elections that witnessed the return of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto, who eventually became the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

: 304 [19] During his tenure, General Kakar was instrumental in securing the government funding for the Shaheen project developed under the PAEC's scientists.

: 40 [23] His reception as an army chief was hailed and celebrated by the Pashtuns nationalists when Mahmood Achakzai, then-MNA, reportedly remarked in the news media in 1993: "This is not a General from the Sandhurst colonial brand.

"[6] Published writer/author Ikram Sehgal mentioned the following in his article for Bol News, "Emulating The Kakar Model": Can the Army itself avoid its prime responsibility to confront any development endangering national security by remaining aloof from politics?

In July 1993, the then COAS Pakistan Army General Waheed Kakar calmly and peacefully saw off both the President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif who both were endangering national security by creating conditions that could have led to civil war.