Vice President of Afghanistan Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim died

Vice President of Afghanistan Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim died on 9 March 2014 due to natural cause. He died at the age of 56. He was formerly known as one of the country's much feared warlords.

Fahim was a leader of the Tajik ethnic minority. He was senior Vice President under President Hamid Karzai.

Fahim served as a influential but brutal intelligence officer under iconic rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, fighting against the Soviet occupation in 1980s and against the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime.

Massoud was killed by an al-Qaida bomb two days before the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001.
The Taliban were then ousted in a US-led operation for sheltering al-Qaida and Fahim emerged as a leading figure in Afghan politics during the international military and civilian intervention.

Fahim was appointed defence minister in 2002. He also served as a vice president from 2002-2004.
Fahim returned as senior vice-president in the 2009 election.

Fahim was famous for his love of buzkashi the violent and popular Afghan sport in which horseriders wrestle over a dead calf and try to drop the animal into a chalk circle.