After the inauguration ceremony on 22 December 2001, where Fahim was installed as minister of Defence and Vice-Chair of the interim government, he requested that international forces leave the capital. He "would no longer accept foreign troops in Afghanistan operating without a UN mandate," Fahim said. Later he demanded that 100 British servicemen who just had entered the country leave Bagram Air Base. "The British forces perhaps have an agreement with the UN but not with us," said Fahim. He also stated that a UN force should not exceed 1,000 men and should play a very limited role in Afghan politics and that his own forces could eradicate sources of instability. His own Northern Alliance forces should police Kabul, said Fahim, because he said that his troops in Kabul were security troops, not military.