Thursday, July 23, 2015

Mohammad Zahir Shah, Last Afghan King, Dies at 92 - nytimes

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 23 — Mohammad Zahir Shah , the former king of Afghanistan, whose 40-year reign, which ended in 1973, was esteemed enough to earn him the title “father of the nation” in the current Constitution, died Monday in Kabul. He was 92.

“Zahir Shah was beloved by many people,” said Abdul Hamid Mubarez, one of Afghanistan’s best-known journalists . “For them, he was a mixture of Afghan and Western culture. He was educated in France and had a chance to observe the democratic system there. He brought back some very progressive ideas.”

Zahir never did become a dynamic ruler, always seeming more like a gentleman farmer at home on his property with a new breed of milk cows or fresh plantings of strawberries. But he did assert himself in the 1960s, introducing a constitutional monarchy and advocating greater political tolerance. His changes included new rights for women in voting, education and the work force.

These changes, in a deeply traditional Islamic society, were not popular with everyone. But his years were characterized by a rare long period of peace. This tranquillity is recalled now with immense nostalgia. 

Zahir was overthrown in 1973 while traveling in Italy, getting medical treatments for eye problems and therapy for lumbago. His successor was a slighted cousin, Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan , whom the king had fired as prime minister a decade earlier. Zahir abdicated the throne rather than start bloodshed. But Afghanistan’s problems were just beginning

Living so far from home, the deposed king, like so many other Afghan exiles, watched helplessly as his country was wrenched apart. - Read More at the Last Afghan King

Mohammad Zahir Shah, Last Afghan King, Dies at 92 - New ...


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