Abdul Momim was a trained army officer who had proved capable of winning over members of the insurgency and had been given command of a militia unit.

[2] In January 1992, Najibullah tried to reassert his command over his supply lines by replacing the non-Pashtun militia leaders with Pashtun officers.

His first move was to replace Abdul Momim with General Rasul, a Pashtun Khalqi notorious for his brutal tenure as commander of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison.

Momim refused to leave his post, and quickly garnered support from Dostum, who arranged an alliance with Ismaili militia commander Sayed Mansur Naderi.

His death came at a time when Junbish's Tajik commanders fiercely opposed Dostum's decision to ally with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami against Massoud.