Aimal Faizi confirmed the death of Fahim, an ethnic Tajik who was part of the alliance that ousted the Taliban in 2011 and also served in President Hamid Karzai's first administration, in a tweet. Faizi says the government has called for a three-day mourning period.
Presidential candidate Hedayat Amin Arsala said Fahim died Sunday.
Arsala tells The Associated Press his death "will affect the future political development" but he didn't elaborate.
Fahim was best known as an ally of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic Northern Alliance commander who was killed in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. AP