Early Years
Fahim was born in Omarz, Panjshir the son of Abdul Matin from the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. He is reported to have finished his studies in Islamic Sharia at an Arabic institute in Kabul in 1977. Some sources have allegedly claimed that Fahim served as a member of the KHAD during the 1980s, although the most reports indicate that he has been fighting the communist rulers since the late 70s. He is said to have fled Afghanistan after the Communist coup of 1978, he became a refugee in Peshawar. One year later, he returned to Panjshir and began to work under Commander Ahmad Shah Masood. He became Masood's deputy in military affairs and the commander of the Mujahideen in the northern sector. When the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul collapesed in 1992, Fahim was appointed head of the KHAD, under interim president Sibghatullah Mojaddedi. He continued to serve as the countries head of intelligence under president Burhanuddin Rabbani. (Bhatia, 2007; Brown & Oliver, 2001)
In 1996, Fahim also personally offered to evacuate former Communist President Mohammad Najibullah, then in custody in Kabul, from the advancing Taliban forces, but Najibullah refused to be evacuated and was captured and executed by a Taliban mob. General Fahim continued to serve as Head of the Intelligence and Minister of National Security of the internationally recognised United National Front Government, even when the Taliban took the power over most provinces of Afghanistan in the second half of the 90s.
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