Mohammad Fahim
Mohammad Qasim Fahim (Dari: محمد فهیم, popularly known as "Marshal Fahim"; 1957 – 9 March 2014) was an Afghan military commander and politician who served as Vice President of Afghanistan from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until his death.[1] He was considered a powerful and influential figure during the Karzai Administration.[2]
For other people with the same name, see Mohammad Qasim.
Mohammad Fahim
Osman Sultani
Position abolished
1957
Omarz, Panjshir, Afghanistan
(aged 56 or 57)
Kabul, Afghanistan
12 (Adib Fahim)
1978–2002
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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. Between December 2001 and December 2004, he served as Defense Minister under the Afghan Transitional Administration. In 2004, President Hamid Karzai provided Fahim the honorary title Marshal and a year later, he became member of the House of Elders. He later became a recipient of the Ahmad Shah Baba Medal. Fahim died due to natural causes in 2014; the president declared three days of national mourning in honor of him.[2]
Early years[edit]
Fahim was born in Omarz, a small village in the Panjshir Province of Afghanistan and is of Tajik ethnicity. He was the son of Qala Dar from the Panjshir Valley.[3] He is reported to have finished his studies in Islamic Sharia law at an Arabic institute in Kabul in 1977.[4] Most reports show that he had been fighting the Communist rulers since the late 70s.[5][6][7][8] A TOLOnews video chronicling his life reports that Fahim joined the Muslim Youth Movement of Afghanistan while he was still in college.[9][10] He fled Afghanistan after the Communist coup of 1978, he became a refugee in Peshawar. He returned to Panjshir and began to work under Commander Ahmad Shah Masood.[7][11]
Assassination attempts[edit]
Fahim survived several assassination attempts. His convoy was targeted when a mine exploded underneath the central car in Fahim's convoy. 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." (BBC, 8 April 2002)
Fahim survived another attack later in 2002. This time, the man behind the attack was arrested by the intelligence agency. The alleged person carried with him "22 pounds of explosives in the pockets of his jacket, attached to wires and apparently ready to explode." (The New York Times, 24 November 2002)
In June 2003, a bomb was found in front of his home. Later in the year, the head of his personal security died at the hands of a suicide bomber.
Fahim survived another assassination attempt in the northern Kunduz province. Only 26 July 2009, as the running mate of President Karzai for the 2009 elections, his convoy was attacked in an ambush staged by the Taliban. The Taliban attacked Fahim's convoy using automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades.[76]
Peace negotiations of 2010[edit]
On the celebrations of Nowruz, New Year's Day, of 1389 (21 March 2010) in Mazar-i-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan, Fahim reached out to militants. He declared that, with their input, a coming national conference would lay the foundations for a peace that would end the Taliban insurgency. He called on resistance forces to participate in a jirga, or assembly, planned for late April or early May. He pledged that the Afghan government "will try to find a peaceful life for those Afghans who are unhappy," a euphemism for militants, though he didn't mention the Taliban by name.[77][78] Afghans had travelled from across the country to Mazar-i-Sharif united behind the wish that the advent of a new year would bring them peace. 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. Mazar is at the heart of one of the most peaceful regions of the country. City police chief Abdul Rauf Taj said that 4,000 security personnel had been deployed against insurgent attacks and that all visitors were being screened at seven check points around the city perimeter.[79]
The Peace Jirga took place in Kabul on 2–4 June 2010.
Death[edit]
Fahim's last years were beset by health problems which required hospital treatment in Germany. He died of a heart attack on 9 March 2014.[3][83][84][85]
Karzai called Fahim's death "a huge loss for Afghanistan" and the government of Afghanistan called for a three-day national mourning period.[86][87][88] The UN called him in a statement "a good and trusted partner of the UN."[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. Marshal Fahim was also a close friend of India. We shall never forget his personal contribution to nurturing and strengthening the India Afghanistan strategic partnership."[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."[90]
After his death, the Afghan National Defense University was renamed Marshal Fahim National Defense University (MFNDU).[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.[3]
His life and legacy is commemorated annually on 9 March in Kabul and other provinces.[92][93]