Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, First Vice President of President Hamid Karzai, died of a heart attack in his Kabul home early on Sunday, Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said.

The government has called for three days of national mourning and the flag will be raised at half-staff.

Marshal Fahim, who suffered from diabetes for years, was ill for the past three days, a source said.

Karzai on Sunday visited Marshal Fahim's home in Kabul, where he had passed away. Top Afghan politicians, including Abdullah Abdullah, Zalmai Rassoul, Hedayat Amin Arsala, and Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai, expressed their condolences upon learning of his death.

Karzai called Marshal Fahim a "great patriot."

Marshal became Karzai's first vice president in 2009.

A look at Marshal Fahim's life:

Marshal Fahim was born in Panjshir province in 1957.

He was a key commander under Ahmad Shah Massoud, the National Hero of Afghanistan during the fight against Soviet occupation in 1990s, and succeeded Massoud as the leader of the Northern Alliance after his assassination in 2001.

He started his primary education in his birthplace and finished his studies in Islamic Sharia at the Arabic Institute of Kabul.

He fled Afghanistan to Pakistan after the Saur Revolution in 1978 and returned to Shegal area of eastern Kunar province to fight against the Soviet invasion.

Saur Revolution takeover of political power from Dr. Najibullah, former Afghan President on 27-28 April 1978.

He visited Panjshir in the summer of 1979 to create the Mujahideen groups and become a commander for Ahmad Shah Masoud.

In 1988, he was appointed as the general commander of the Mujahideen in north of Kabul and in 1990 visited Balkh, Jawzjan and Faryab northern provinces to gather more Mujahideen.

He returned to Kabul in 1993 after the collapse of the government of Dr. Najibullah, former Afghan President. He was appointed as the Minister of Security. After the Kabul government collapsed in 1997 and the Taliban came to power, he become a commander of resistance forces in north of Kabul.

After Ahmad Shah Massoud's assassination in 2001, Marshal Fahim became the leader of governmental and Resistance forces and came to Kabul with the assistance of international coalition forces in 2001.

After Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, Marshall Fahim was assigned as First Vice-President and Minister of Defense in Karzai's temporary government. And he was named with the highest military rank of Marshal in appreciation of his service to Afghanistan.

He once more became first Vice-President and Minister of Defense after launching emergency Loya Jirga in Afghanistan.

At the second round of presidential election in 2009, Karzai selected Fahim as his first vice-president.

Marshal Fahim spoke Dari, Pashto and Arabic languages and had 12 children.