Lutfullah Mashal

Lutfullah Mashal لطف الله مشعل
Lutfullah Mashal second from left with turban
Governor of Laghman
In office 22 March 2008 – 18 March 2010
Preceded by	Gulab Mangal
Succeeded by	Mohammad Iqbal Azizi
Personal details
Born	Kabul, Afghanistan
Religion	Islam

Lutfullah Mashal (Pashto: لطف الله مشعل‎) is a politician in Afghanistan who last served as spokesman for the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Prior to that he was Governor of Laghman province. He is also a writer and a poet.

Lutfullah was born in 1971 in the Shah Shaheed area of Kabul city. He graduated from the University of Peshawar in 1994 with a master's degree in English literature.

From 2003 to 2005, Lutfullah served as a senior spokesperson and adviser in the Ministry of the Interior. After receiving a scholarship from Kent University, he moved to Britain where he obtained a master's degree in Political Science and International Conflict Analysis.

He is the author of several books in Pashto and English. He was a reporter for the American Newspaper (The Christian Science Monitor) from 2001-2002. Mashal has appeared on major news channels reporting/discussing terrorism, taliban and radical insurgents in Afghanistan/south Asia.

Lutfullah Mashal Used to be Laghman province governor (2008 - 2010) he was replaced with Mohammad Iqbal Azizi.

Lutfullah Mashal has recently2011 been appointed as Spokesperson and Special Assistant to the DG of the National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan NDS

Mr. Mashal has written extensively on Al-Qaeda and the emergence of Taliban and radical Islamist groups in Afghanistan. He has also researched on the drugs factor in the conflict of Afghanistan.