Badi Basim was an Afghan National Army captain who served as ISAF commander Stanley McChrystal's aide-de-camp from 2009. McChrystal recruited the scholarly Basim, seemingly at random, to have Afghan representation on his staff as he oversaw a nation-building project; when Basim first met McChrystal, he walked into his headquarters in civilian clothing, as it was too dangerous to be seen wearing an ANA outfit in public.