Posted on 08/09/2003 9:52:44 AM PDT by knighthawk
KABUL: Afghanistan's 88-year-old ex-king Zahir Shah -- twice-rumoured to have died in July -- arrived back in Kabul on Saturday from France, where he had been recovering from a broken leg.
Zahir Shah was greeted with an embrace by US-backed President Hamid Karzai then walked slowly down the stairs from an Ariana Afghan Airlines, supported by aides, to review an honour guard. Aides followed with a wheelchair and crutches.
The reclusive former monarch returned to Afghanistan last year after nearly three decades in exile but had been recuperating at a private clinic outside Paris after breaking his leg in June.
"He's fine. He's not going to be climbing mountains, but he's doing well," his daughter Homaira Wali told the media before he left France for Kabul.
Seen as a symbol of unity for the highly fractious country, Zahir Shah was given the title ‘Father of the Nation’ after his return from exile, and some Afghan publications have urged him to take a leadership role after general elections due next year.
Zahir Shah ruled Afghanistan for 40 years before being deposed by his cousin in a 1973 coup that ushered in three decades of insurrection, Soviet occupation, civil war and Islamic fundamentalist rule.
Maybe he is what they need.
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