General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Qadam Shah Shahim an Afghan diplomat and former army officer. He served as the Chief of Staff of the

Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

from May 2015 to April 2017 before resigning amid political fallout over the 2017 Camp Shaheen attack.

Early life and education

Shahim, an ethnic Tajik, was born in the Tashkan district of

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...

, in 1962 and attended Keshm High School, graduating in 1982.

Military career

Early military career

From the early 1980s, Shahim fought with

Jamiat-e Islami Jamayat-E-Islami (also rendered as Jamiat-e-Islami and Jamiati Islami; fa, جمعیت اسلامی افغانستان, lit=Islamic Society), sometimes shortened to Jamiat, is a predominantly Tajik political party in Afghanistan. It was origi ...

against the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

. He later fought against other

mujahedin ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

factions during the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and then against the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

. In 1994, he was appointed as commander of 82 Regiment in

Qargha Qargha ( prs, بند قرغه) is a dam and reservoir at Qargheh, Qargha near Kabul, in Afghanistan. The reservoir and its peripheral areas provide for recreation facilities such as boating, surfing, golfing, etc. and has a hotel on its bank. The ...

, and in 1997 was made a Brigadier. In 2001, Shahim was commander of the 37th Brigade of Commandos and dealt often with foreign forces.

Late military career

In 2007, he commanded the 1st Brigade of the 111st Capital Division, based in Kabul. In 2011, he was appointed as commander of the 111st Capital Division, which is half the size of a normal division. Shahim was wounded in the July 2014 attack on

Kabul Airport , nativename-r = , image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg , caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012 , IATA = KBL , ICAO = OAKB , ...

and hospitalised in Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan hospital for further treatment. In May 2015, he was appointed as Chief of the General Staff of the Afghan National Army. In August and September 2016, Shahim visited India in order to enhance ties with the Indian army and to seek new avenues for acquiring military equipment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahim, Qadam Shah 1962 births Afghan military personnel Generals Living people Military personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) People from Badakhshan Province Afghan military officers