[2] Affiliated with Ahmad Shah Massoud's Jamiat Islami (Shura-e Nazar) party, Fahim captured the Afghan capital Kabul in the fall of 2001 from the Taliban government as a military commander of the Northern Alliance.

[14] Fahim continued to serve as head of the Intelligence and Minister of National Security of the internationally recognised United Islamic Front Government, even when it was ousted and the Taliban took the power over most provinces of Afghanistan in the second half of the 1990s.

[3] On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's most important resistance leader and Defense Minister of the ousted but international recognized government, was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists.

In the first days after the fall of Kabul, a supreme military council, headed by Fahim, was set up to administer the captured parts of the country.

[23] The military council gave itself a three-month mandate in which they proclaimed not to hand over the power to United Islamic Front president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

With crucial US military help, the opposition forces had captured virtually all of Afghanistan from the Taliban in the beginning of December 2001, and in Bonn the formation of an interim administration was discussed.

As the US started bombing Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, it became clear that the United Islamic Front of Fahim would play an important role in the transition government that would emerge after the Taliban was ousted.

[25][26] When in the first weeks of US bombardments Fahim's forces did not make any large breakthroughs, it was speculated that he was struggling with his role and he appeared wooden and awkward in front of his troops.

[29] In the talks in Bonn Fahim took a leading role, together with two other young and moderate Tajik leaders from the United Islamic Front (UIF), Yunus Qanuni and dr.

[34] Initially there was some fear that the trivium of former Massoud-aides could overshadow Karzai, but at the same time, they were praised for giving away the chairmanship while they controlled Afghanistan militarily.

Since Fahim was afraid a large international peace keeping force would take away his power base, he argued for a limited number of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

[37][38] After the inauguration ceremony on 22 December 2001, where Fahim was installed as minister of Defence and vice-chair of the interim government, he requested that international forces leave the capital.

[45][46] Fahim discussed the deployment of foreign troops with US Generals and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who demanded the presence of a large international force.

[47][48] Fahim was in charge of the meetings with the British General John McColl to establish the exact task, length of stay and size of international forces.

[50] In the end, it was decided that an international security force of a few thousand troops would be deployed,[51] but that they would agree to Fahim's demands to not take control of Kabul and not start immediately disarming Afghan militias.

"[56] "They are here because they want to be," and because the United Nations Security Council sent them to Afghanistan to prevent another civil war, Fahim said,[57] but insisted that their presence was merely symbolic and that the foreign troops were not supposed to use force.

The heavily armed units of northern alliance soldiers who swept into Kabul will be withdrawn from the streets, Fahim added, but they will not leave the capital.

A daunting task, since Fahim's own troops had so far shied away from vast stretches of southern and eastern lawless lands under the sway of armed former Taliban warriors, most of them members of the dominant Pashtun ethnic group.

Still, although a sometimes bumbling and awkward figure in public, and especially unpopular with the Uzbek minority,[61] Fahim quietly had gained control of the Northern Alliance's fractious military commanders.

[69] At the end of January 2002, Fahim set in on a meeting of Karzai met with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and spoke with the two of them about security issues.

Regarding his decision in appointing Marshal Fahim as one of his advisors, Karzai added that "I hope that officially as my adviser, he will continue to cooperate with me.

(Azadi Radio, 5 April 2006) Throughout his time as a public figure, he has had persistent accusations of corruption and human rights abuses.

He had been on an official visit to the eastern city of Jalalabad "to discuss a new government campaign to stop farmers growing poppies for the opium trade and other issues with local commanders and tribal leaders."

The alleged person carried with him "22 pounds of explosives in the pockets of his jacket, attached to wires and apparently ready to explode."

According to the police, up to half a million people are in the city to mark the spring equinox and the first day of the traditional Afghan new year and celebrated across Central Asia and Iran.

Other members included former President Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, House Speaker Yunus Qanuni, Vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud.

He further said that after the 2004 elections President Karzai formed a "one-sided" cabinet and began to employ unilateralism as his main policy driver.

"[86] The Prime Minister of India, while emphasizing his role in fostering India-Afghanistan relations, called him "a brave and fearless military commander, whose contribution to Afghanistan's stabilisation and reconstruction after over three decades of war and conflict will always be remembered.

"[89] Ambassador James Cunningham of the United States called him "a leader during the Jihad, and that he played a major role in moving Afghanistan toward moderation.

[91] His death came only a few weeks before Karzai was due to step down from the presidency, and as NATO forces pull out of Afghanistan, added to the prevailing atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.