Mohammad Zahir Shah, last king of Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN’S last king, a symbol of unity who oversaw four decades of peace before a 1973 palace coup ousted him and war shattered his country, has died.

He was 92. Mohammad Zahir Shah’s demise ended the last vestige of Afghanistan’s monarchy and triggered three days of national mourning for a man still feted as the ‘Father of the Nation’ since his return from exile after the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.Though he was not always effective during his 40-year reign, Zahir Shah is remembered warmly by his conflict-weary countrymen for steering the country without bloodshed.When the fall of the Taliban in 2001 offered fresh hope for national reconciliation, many clamoured for Zahir Shah’s return – not only to his homeland but to the throne.When he did come back from Italy in April 2002, he stood aside in favour of an anti-Taliban tribesman, now-President Hamid Karzai.A new constitution passed in January 2004 consigned the monarchy to history, with Zahir Shah named the ceremonial Father of the Nation, a position that dissolves with his death.”The people are relying on you and you should not forget them,” the monarch told the loya jirga, or grand assembly, which ratified the landmark charter.”I hope you will try your best to maintain peace, stability and the unity of the Afghan people.”Subsequently, Zahir Shah left Afghanistan several times for medical treatment, and rumours of his death surfaced repeatedly this year.Karzai called the king a “symbol of national unity” who brought development and education to the country.The king remained a leader in his final years, but one who didn’t seek the power of a throne, he said.”He was the servant of his people, the friend of his people,” Karzai said.”He believed in the rule of the people and in human rights.”Born on October 15 1914, Zahir Shah was proclaimed monarch in 1933 at age 19 within hours of the death of his father, King Muhammad Nadir Shah, who was assassinated before his eyes.He was not a dynamic ruler, with uncles and cousins holding the real power during most of his reign.But his neutral foreign policy and limited liberalisation of a deeply conservative society managed to keep the peace – a golden age in the eyes of many Afghans pained by the extremism and slaughter that followed.The UN’s top envoy to Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, said the king “presided over the most tranquil and prosperous periods in Afghanistan’s modern history and exerted a unifying influence, including during the difficult decades of conflict.”Educated in Europe, the king made modest moves to modernise Afghanistan.A patron of the arts, he funded music festivals and theatre companies.He loved to hunt, ride and ski.During the Cold War, Afghanistan’s location bordering the Soviet Union and linking Asia to the Middle East magnified the country’s importance.But Zahir Shah managed to keep it clear of the fray, as he had during World War II.The king turned Afghanistan into a constitutional monarchy in 1964.The new constitution mandated primary education for all children, and gave women the right to vote, attend school and work.But his reforms stalled, partly because Zahir Shah was reluctant to give up too much control.Political parties were never legalised, while parliament and the prime minister remained largely powerless.His downfall came in 1973 at the hands of Mohammad Daoud Khan, a cousin and autocratic moderniser who earlier served a decade as prime minister.With the king enjoying thermal baths on an island in southern Italy, Daoud Khan declared a republic with himself as president.Zahir Shah abdicated to avoid bloodshed, ending a 300-year-old dynasty.Tall, elegant and reserved, he rarely gave interviews, especially after a 1991 assassination attempt by an Angolan-born Portuguese man posing as a journalist.The attacker, a convert to Islam, stabbed the former monarch several times with an ornate silver knife.Zahir Shah suffered face and throat wounds.From Rome, he could only watch as Afghanistan suffered waves of killing and destruction in the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, the 1992-96 civil war and the rise and fall of the Taliban.The former king and his circle, like many Afghans, welcomed the Taliban at first, hoping for an end to the bloodshed.But disillusionment soon set in, and Zahir Shah began working to convene a loya jirga to forge a broad-based government.The plan languished until after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.After the 2002 loya jirga, Zahir Shah was back in his grand downtown palace.But he said repeatedly he had no ambition to dust off the throne, insisting he wanted only to help revive and reunify his country.Nampa-APMohammad Zahir Shah’s demise ended the last vestige of Afghanistan’s monarchy and triggered three days of national mourning for a man still feted as the ‘Father of the Nation’ since his return from exile after the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.Though he was not always effective during his 40-year reign, Zahir Shah is remembered warmly by his conflict-weary countrymen for steering the country without bloodshed.When the fall of the Taliban in 2001 offered fresh hope for national reconciliation, many clamoured for Zahir Shah’s return – not only to his homeland but to the throne.When he did come back from Italy in April 2002, he stood aside in favour of an anti-Taliban tribesman, now-President Hamid Karzai.A new constitution passed in January 2004 consigned the monarchy to history, with Zahir Shah named the ceremonial Father of the Nation, a position that dissolves with his death.”The people are relying on you and you should not forget them,” the monarch told the loya jirga, or grand assembly, which ratified the landmark charter.”I hope you will try your best to maintain peace, stability and the unity of the Afghan people.”Subsequently, Zahir Shah left Afghanistan several times for medical treatment, and rumours of his death surfaced repeatedly this year.Karzai called the king a “symbol of national unity” who brought development and education to the country.The king remained a leader in his final years, but one who didn’t seek the power of a throne, he said.”He was the servant of his people, the friend of his people,” Karzai said.”He believed in the rule of the people and in human rights.”Born on October 15 1914, Zahir Shah was proclaimed monarch in 1933 at age 19 within hours of the death of his father, King Muhammad Nadir Shah, who was assassinated before his eyes.He was not a dynamic ruler, with uncles and cousins holding the real power during most of his reign.But his neutral foreign policy and limited liberalisation of a deeply conservative society managed to keep the peace – a golden age in the eyes of many Afghans pained by the extremism and slaughter that followed.The UN’s top envoy to Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, said the king “presided over the most tranquil and prosperous periods in Afghanistan’s modern history and exerted a unifying influence, including during the difficult decades of conflict.”Educated in Europe, the king made modest moves to modernise Afghanistan.A patron of the arts, he funded music festivals and theatre companies.He loved to hunt, ride and ski.During the Cold War, Afghanistan’s location bordering the Soviet Union and linking Asia to the Middle East magnified the country’s importance.But Zahir Shah managed to keep it clear of the fray, as he had during World War II.The king turned Afghanistan into a constitutional monarchy in 1964.The new constitution mandated primary education for all children, and gave women the right to vote, attend school and work.But his reforms stalled, partly because Zahir Shah was reluctant to give up too much control.Political parties were never legalised, while parliament and the prime minister remained largely powerless.His downfall came in 1973 at the hands of Mohammad Daoud Khan, a cousin and autocratic moderniser who earlier served a decade as prime minister.With the king enjoying thermal baths on an island in southern Italy, Daoud Khan declared a republic with himself as president.Zahir Shah abdicated to avoid bloodshed, ending a 300-year-old dynasty.Tall, elegant and reserved, he rarely gave interviews, especially after a 1991 assassination attempt by an Angolan-born Portuguese man posing as a journalist.The attacker, a convert to Islam, stabbed the former monarch several times with an ornate silver knife.Zahir Shah suffered face and throat wounds.From Rome, he could only watch as Afghanistan suffered waves of killing and destruction in the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, the 1992-96 civil war and the rise and fall of the Taliban.The former king and his circle, like many Afghans, welcomed the Taliban at first, hoping for an end to the bloodshed.But disillusionment soon set in, and Zahir Shah began working to convene a loya jirga to forge a broad-based government.The plan languished until after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.After the 2002 loya jirga, Zahir Shah was back in his grand downtown palace.But he said repeatedly he had no ambition to dust off the throne, insisting he wanted only to help revive and reunify his country.Nampa-AP