Vice-President
As Defense Minister he toured army bases in the United Kingdom, negotiated security issues with U.S. General Tommy Franks and Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum, NATO Secretary General George Robertson, visited Moscow and Washington, DC. He also replaced 15 ethnic Tajik generals with officers from the Pashtun, Uzbek and Hazara ethnic groups.
While holding the position, he continued to command his own militia which he inherited from the United Front or more commonly known as the Northern Alliance. However, on December 10, 2003, he ordered part of his militia to transport their weapons to an Afghan National Army installation near Kabul.
On September 12, 2003, Miloon Kothari, appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to investigate housing rights in Afghanistan, announced that many of the government ministers including Fahim and Education Minister Yunus Qanuni were illegally occupying land and should be removed from their posts. However, three days later, Kothari sent a letter to Lakhdar Brahimi, the head of the U.N. in Afghanistan, saying he had gone too far in naming the ministers.
Mohammad Fahim was not chosen by Karzai's to be one of his Vice Presidents; subsequently he backed the candidacy of his fellow Tajik, Yunus Qanuni. After Karzai's victory in the presidential elections, he was not reappointed Defense Minister. However in a decree made in December 2004, Karzai confirmed that Fahim would hold the rank of Marshal, Afghanistan's highest, for life, with all rights and privileges. In this period he still was a powerful and influential figure in Afghanistan. Many believe Karzai dropped Fahim from his cabinet as a result of intense pressure from various foreign organizations who viewed Fahim as a major bottleneck in the disarmament process. Also, Fahim has no higher education, and article 72 of Afghanistan's constitution states that an appointed Minister to the President's cabinet should have a higher education. In 2006, Karzai, faced with a resurgent Taliban, returned Marshal Fahim to Government as an advisor.
Some Afghan analysts attest that, despite losing his military position, Marshal Fahim still remains a very powerful figure in the political arena of the country. " is particularly popular among people in the north, because he had fought Soviet Russia, and later the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He spent many years fighting aggressors." (Erada, 2005)
Later in the year 2006, in an interview Karzai said, "Marshal Fahim is one of the sons of our, a patriot and his country. I have a great deal of respect for Marshal Fahim. He has been my close friend and confidant. He has his own unique place in Afghanistan. He has been a respectable military man. He is a five-star general. And he is a senator." 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. He comes to all of the National Security Council meetings. He is my dear brother. No one can ever reduce the respect that Marshal Fahim has earned for himself." (Azadi Radio, April 5, 2006)
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