Afghan VP dies weeks before new polls
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Afghanistan’s powerful vice president, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, died of natural causes yesterday, only weeks before the country is due to elect a new leader. He was 57.
Once one of Afghanistan’s most feared warlords, Fahim had been a top commander in the Northern Alliance, a group of anti-Taliban militia leaders, after the 1992-96 civil war.
“It is with deep sadness that we learn of the passing away of Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, the First Vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. May his soul rest in peace,” President Hamid Karzai’s office said, declaring three days of national mourning.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan called Fahim “a good and trusted partner of the UN.” Back in 2009, UN officials and diplomats had criticized Fahim’s appointment because he was accused of serious human rights abuses.
It was unclear what, if any, role Fahim had planned for next month’s presidential election.
Pictures on local media showed government dignitaries streaming into pay their respects to Fahim, whose body was wrapped in an embroidered gold robe.
He fought alongside US troops to defeat the Taliban and was a staunch backer of Karzai, whom he promoted as Afghanistan’s interim leader and later served as both defense minister and vice president.
Fahim, vice president since 2009, spoke little to the media, said Kate Clarke of the Kabul based thinktank Afghanistan Analysts Network, but wielded great influence in closed door meetings.
“Karzai, Fahim and the Americans have been the three key powers in Afghanistan since 2001,” she said. “He was one of the key people to win over because he carries a lot of influence within ... one of the big political-military parties.”
Human Rights Watch said in a 2005 report that Fahim was “one of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many Afghans on his hands from the civil war.”
But the United Nations struck a different note yesterday, saying that Fahim had been “a good and trusted partner” of the UN mission in Afghanistan.
The presidential election is due to take place on April 5.
Seen as a quiet powerbroker, Fahim had been courted by several candidates but had not publicly committed his support, said Amrullah Saleh, a former Afghan intelligence chief who was close to Fahim.
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