Naseem Rana (Urdu: نسيم رانا; born 20 September 1942) was a retired three-star general in the Pakistan Army, who served as the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1995 to October 1998.

[2] Rana was born in middle-class Rajput family of Lyallpur (Now Faisalabad) Punjab, British Indian Empire in 1942, in the midst of World War II.

[citation needed] Rana is a prominent attendee of the international Defence Management course in the United States where he gained specialized degree in operational and command analysis in 1984.

[1] After his education, Rana began in active duty and was stationed near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where a major battle against the Soviet Union and her ally Communist Afghanistan was underway.

In 1997, independent brigades of 40th Infantry and the Frontier Force Regiment moved to protect the Pakistani border from any infiltrations From 1995 until 2001, Rana was the central planner for Pakistan's war in Afghanistan where he was responsible for coordinating military, intelligence, and strategic operations against the Northern Alliance.

Shortly after General Musharraf installed a military government, Rana was appointed as the Defence Secretary of Pakistan, a post he headed as Lieutenant-General until 2001.

[citation needed] In the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, General Musharraf immediately removed him from the post as he was one of the primary figures involved with the Taliban in Afghanistan.