Abbasi worked as an intelligence and military officer in liaison with Afghan Mujahideen resisting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1980–1986). In 1987–1988, Brigadier Abbasi also served as the military attaché at the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi, India. On December 1, 1988 New Delhi police arrested Abbasi in a meeting with an alleged Indian contact. As no information or documents could be obtained from him, the Indian government was forced to release him within hours; he was declared "persona non grata" and expelled from India.