1990s. During this time of Taliban rule in Afghanistan Fahim was active as military commander for the United Islamic Front in the north of Afghanistan, especially in Panjshir and Mazar-i-Sharif. As Defense Minister On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's most important resistance leader and Defense Minister of the ousted but international recognized government, was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists. Two days later, Fahim was confirmed as the new defence minister of the United Islamic Front (Northern Alliance), succeeding Massoud. Fahim was a close ally and protégé of Massoud. In the wake of building pressure of the US against the Taliban regime after September 11, 2001, as general commander of the mujahideen resistance forces, Fahim became America's main proxy in the fight against the Taliban. He was anxious to start a military offensive and even pledged to launch an attack against the Taliban, without waiting for US military action, saying: "Today we have a chance to defeat the Taliban and the terrorists, and we will use it whatever the cost." On 7 October, the day the US started bombing Taliban targets, he proclaimed an offensive on the northern and western fronts. On October, 20, a US team of Green Berets landed in Afghanistan and teamed up with Fahim. On 30 October, Fahim met with American General Tommy Franks where they discussed the idea to launch the first major strike of the war against Mazar-e-Sharif, a city that Fahim a month earlier named as the first city that he would conquer. Mazar-e Sharif was captured by opposition forces on 9 and 10 November and only a few days later, the Taliban evacuated Kabul. US President George W. Bush had requested that opposition forces would not enter the city before a new, broad-based, multi-ethnic government was formed. But Fahim went into the city with a group of specially trained security personnel, although he made sure to leave the main body of his troops outside the city. At the end of November, forces loyal to Fahim captured the city of Kunduz. That brought Fahim in charge of two of the five biggest cities, since other main cities were captured by militias of Gul Agha Sherzai and Hamid Karzai (Kandahar), Ismail Khan (Herat) en Abdul Rashid Dostum (Mazar-e-Sharif). In the first days after the fall of Kabul, a supreme military council, headed by Fahim, was set up to administer the captured