Internal strife, lack of capable viziers and the increasing authority of the Turkic slave-soldiers (ghulam) had also weakened the Samanid realm.[2] The death of Mansur's brother 'Abd al-Malik I at the end of 961 caused a succession crisis. The ghulams, who were effectively in control of the government, split over who should succeed 'Abd al-Malik. Alptigin, the leader of the ghulams and the governor of Khurasan, supported 'Abd al-Malik's son, while Fa'iq Khassa, who had known Mansur since his childhood, pressed for the latter's coronation.