General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Abdul Momim or Abdul Mumin (? – January 5, 1994), was an ethnic Tajik officer who played a crucial role in the downfall of the government of

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

. In January 1992, he joined

Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; ; Uzbek language, Uzbek Uzbek alphabet, Latin: , Uzbek Uzbek alphabet, Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan former Officer (armed forces), military officer, warlord and exiled politician. He is the founder and ...

to form the Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan.

Career

During the 1990s, Najibullah's regime had grown to rely on pro-government militias to fight the Mujahideen insurgency. Abdul Momim was a trained army officer who had proved capable of winning over members of the insurgency and had been given command of a

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

unit. Officially designated as the 70th Division, this unit was based at Hairatan, the strategic border crossing in northern Afghanistan. Despite being nominally loyal to the Kabul regime, Momim used his position to divert supplies to fellow militia leader

, while at the same time giving intelligence to guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. In January 1992, Najibullah tried to reassert his command over his supply lines by replacing the non- Pashtun militia leaders with Pashtun officers. His first move was to replace Abdul Momim with General Rasul, a Pashtun Khalqi notorious for his brutal tenure as commander of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison. Momim refused to leave his post, and quickly garnered support from Dostum, who arranged an alliance with Ismaili militia commander Sayed Mansur Naderi. This coalition, which became the Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan ( National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan), allied with Massoud and overran much of northern Afghanistan with little fighting. On March 19, they captured

Mazar-i-Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highway ...

. After the demise of Najibullah, a new phase in the civil war began. Momim's division was still stationed in Hairatan, but he also had some forces in Kabul. He remained within Junbish, but he also had good relations with Massoud, and in 1993 he began to expand his influence by creating other military units. In January 1994, he died in a mysterious helicopter crash, which was widely blamed on Dostum. His death came at a time when Junbish's Tajik commanders fiercely opposed Dostum's decision to ally with

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, and former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis spl ...

's Hezbi Islami against Massoud. Following Momim's death, most of his forces joined Junbish, but some of those stationed in Kabul joined Jamiat-e Islami.Giustozzi, p.164-165

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Momim, Abdul Afghanistan conflict (1978–present) People of the Soviet–Afghan War Year of birth missing 1994 deaths Afghan Tajik people National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan politicians