 He received BSc degree in Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar in 1971.Achakzai is a Pashtun nationalist who was elected as the chairman of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party following the assassination of his father Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai in a bomb attack in Quetta in 1973.He was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan in a by election.