[7] According to the Law on Crimes against Internal and External Security of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the agency was tasked to investigate cases involving "national treason, espionage, terrorism, sabotage, propaganda against the Government, war propaganda, assisting enemy forces, and organised activity against internal and external security".

[8] As the primary intelligence organ of Afghanistan, the NDS shared information about regional terrorism and major crimes with the Afghan ministries and provincial governors.

[14] After the fall of Kabul to Taliban fighters, many NDS agents and other personnel fled to India, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in order to hide.

In early 2006, intelligence gathered from NDS detainees suggested Osama bin Laden resided in the western Pakistan town of Mansehra.

Pakistan's military leadership sought to weaken and delegitimize Hamid Karzai's government, in order to prevent an alliance between Afghanistan and India.

[28] In 2007, NDS used arrests and interrogations to discover the majority of suicide bombings in Afghanistan originated among Pashtuns from Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

During a raid on an Afghan convoy, US Special Forces intercepted a senior Pakistani Taliban militant, Latif Mehsud, being escorted to Kabul.

[32] During the April 2014 Afghan Presidential Election, the NDS, under Rahmatullah Nabil, collected thousands of signals intelligence indicating Ashraf Ghani's allies organized massive electoral fraud.

[33] In April 2015, the NDS seized an arms cache in Baghkak village, Sayed Abad District and detained two suspected insurgents.

[35] The NDS has had a degree of success, including capturing Maulvi Faizullah,[36] a notable Taliban leader, and foiling an assassination attempt against Abdul Rashid Dostum in 2014.

[39] On December 4, 2020, the NDS busted a 10-man cell consisting of Chinese nationals linked to the Ministry of State Security, who were subsequently arrested for trying to build up connections to the Haqqani Network.

[41] On December 26, 2009, a report was filed by HRW regarding the suspicious death of Abdul Basir, who was said to beaten while in custody despite statements from the NDS that he tried to kill himself.