Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai was born to Noor Muhammad Khan and Dilbara in Village Inayatullah Karez in Gulistan, District Pishin in July 1907. He had one brother and two sisters. His grandfather was Sultan Muhammad Khan & great grandfather was Inayatullah Khan in whose name his village is named. Inayatullah Khan's grandfather was Barkhurdar Khan who was a close confidante of Ahmad Shah Abdali & a general in the third battle of Panipat in 1761. Samad Khan's family had taken part in the second Anglo-Afghan war in the battle of Maiwand in 1880. A generation earlier, Abdullah Khan Achakzai, a relative, had been a key player in the the first Anglo-Afghan war (1838-1842) in Kabul. As is evident, his family had remained closely associated to important events in Afghan history throughout 18th and 19th century.

He started learning to read & write at the age of 5 and continued his education in Farsi & Arabic at home & in the village mosque. He got admitted to the third grade in Gulistan middle school in 1919. His father had passed away the previous year. He stood first in the 4th grade exam in the whole province and was awarded a monthly scholarship of 12 Rupees. Due to financial issues, he had to leave his formal education after grade 8 and started taking part in the family business. However, this was not to be the end of his education. He had to spend more than three decades of his life in British & Pakistani jails. This provided him with ample opportunity to continue his education in jail and he added many qualifications to his education in his later life.

Although he was a child at the time, the third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919 left a deep impression on him. Many Pashtuns on eastern side of the Durand line went and joined the battle against the British in the war. Samad Khan left school in 1925 after grade Eight and started trading in fruit in Sindh & Punjab. The events of 1928-29 also helped create a national awakening in Samad Khan when the Afghan king Amanullah passed through Chaman in 1928 & then in 1929. Young Abdul Samad Khan was present on both the occasions. He, along with his cousins and friends, was arrested for the first time by the British authorities in 1929 for 28 days when they came to know that these youngsters were going to Afghanistan to join King Amanullah Khan's army.

In 1929, Samad Khan, alogwith his brother Abdul Salam and cousin Ayub Khan Achakzai went to Lahore to attend the annual sessions of Congress & other political parties. There, he especially liked the speeches of Saifuddin Kitchlew & Sanobar Hussain Momand. On their return to Gulistan, they started their early political activities from the local mosque. As a result the British sentenced them to 2 years in prison. In the next few years, after his release, Samad khan befriended Baacha khan & Baloch leaders like Mir Yousaf Magsi & Abdul Aziz Kurd. He also met and formed relations with Gandhi, Maulana Azaad and other leaders of the congress party in the early 1930s. In 1932, he presided over the Balochistan conference in Jackobabad. In 1934, he was again sentenced to 3 years in prison.

The press act was extended to British Balochistan in 1936 as a result of Samad Khan & his friends' political struggle. In 1938, he established Aziz printing press in Quetta in the memory of his late Baloch friend Abdul Aziz Kurd and started the "Istiqlal" newspaper. In the same year, on May 21, Anjuman-e-Watan was formed and Samad Khan was elected its president. During the next few years, the party gained popular support. It held its first annual meeting in 1939. Anjuman-e-Watan invited Baacha Khan to visit the province and Samad Khan & Baacha khan visited the whole province in the same year. The party announced non-cooperation with the British & took full part in the Quit India movement.Samad khan was again sentenced to prison in 1942.

As soon as the new country, Pakistan came into being, the rulers of the country threw Samad Khan and other Pashtun leaders in the jail. He was sent to jail in 1948 & was released in 1954. As soon as he was released, he formed a new political party "Wror pashtun" whose main aim was to establish an autonomous Pashtunistan province comprising all the Pashtun territories within Pakistan. He was elected its president. He was again jailed in July 1954 & only released in 1955 when the draconian One-Unit scheme had already been imposed upon the nations living on their historical homelands in Pakistan. He was jailed again in 1955 and in 1956.

After his release from jail in 1956, he joined the struggle going on in Pakistan against the draconian One-unit scheme. In 1956-57, National Awami Party was formed after the merger of Wror Pashtun, Khudai Khidmatgars, Sindh Hari Committee, Sindh Awami Mahaz, Azad Pakistan Party, Ustemaan Gul and Maulana Bhashani's Awami League. NAP's most important goal was to abolish the One-unit setup and constitute provinces on linguistic basis. NAP gained popular support among the masses very soon & was expected to sweep the upcoming elections but the powers that be, sensing the change in the country, imposed Martial law in 1958. A military court sentenced Samad Khan to rigorous imprisonment for 14 years. Samad Khan was the only political prisoner in Pakistan who spent the whole of Ayub Khan regime in jail. He was released in 1968 after 10 years of imprisonment.

In 1969, the governemnt of the time agreed to abolish the One-Unit & constitute provinces in the country. At this critical juncture for Pashtun nationhood in Pakistan, the leadership of National Awami party did not stick to its manifesto of constituting provinces based on linguistic basis. Instead, the southern Pashtun regions were made part of Balochistan province. Samad Khan tried his utmost to solve this issue inside the party forums and tried to convince the party leaderhsip to insist on merging the Pashtun regions in the then NWFP province but to no avail. He even went to Kabul to discuss the situation with Baacha Khan. At last, realizing that he could not solve this problem while remaining part of NAP, he formed his own Party National Awami party-Pashtunkhwa on August 26, 1970 at Hanna Orak, Quetta in Southern Pashtunkhwa.

In 1970, the first elections based on adult franchise were held in the Balochistan province. Samad Khan was elected to the provincial assembly. He presided over the first session of the assembly in 1972. On December 2, 1973 Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai was martyred in his sleep at his home when hand grenades were thrown into his house. His funeral was held at his village in Inayatullah Karez in Gulistan. He is fondly remebered and revered by his followers & the general Pashtun public as "Khan Shaheed". He is survived by four sons and a daughter. His political legacy has been carried forward by Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami party under the leadership of Mashar Mahmood Khan Achakzai.