to the warlords. 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 10 December 2003, he ordered part of his militia to transport their weapons to an Afghan National Army installation near Kabul. On 12 September 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 UN in Afghanistan, saying he had gone too far in naming the ministers. In 2004, many expected Karzai to name Fahim or Qanuni as candidate for vice-president in the upcoming presidential election, but he named Ahmad Zia Massoud instead. Subsequently, Fahim backed the candidacy of his fellow Tajik, Yunus Qanuni for president. After Karzai's victory, Fahim was not reappointed Defense Minister and was succeeded by his deputy Abdul Rahim Wardak. Karzai dropped Fahim from his cabinet to rebalance the Ministry of Defence, and as a result of intense pressure from various foreign organizations who viewed Fahim as a major bottleneck in the disarmament process. He was dismissed in August 2004. Fahim also had 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 a decree made in December 2004, Karzai, who called Fahim his "close friend and confidant" confirmed that Fahim would hold the rank of Marshal, Afghanistan's highest, for life. Years after his death, at a gathering of Fahim's supporters and Afghan politicians, Marking the 5th anniversary of his death, Hazara leader Muhammad Mohaqiq, defending Fahim's military title arguing "When he was given the title of Afghanistan's Marshal by the former president, he deserved it. Because the Mujahideen had won the war against the occupier forces." Although Fahim lost his formal role in the government, he remained a powerful and influential figure in Afghanistan. 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, Fahim remained a very powerful figure in the country. "[He] is particularly popular among people in the north, because he had fought