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| Former king of Afghanistan dies | Former king of Afghanistan dies |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The former King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, has died at the age of 92 following a long illness. | The former King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, has died at the age of 92 following a long illness. |
| Zahir Shah was deposed in 1973 and went into exile, but returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban in 2002. | Zahir Shah was deposed in 1973 and went into exile, but returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban in 2002. |
| Many Afghans had a deep love and respect for Zahir Shah, whose lengthy reign was associated with peace, security and modest political reform. | Many Afghans had a deep love and respect for Zahir Shah, whose lengthy reign was associated with peace, security and modest political reform. |
| His 40-year reign saw women receiving education and voting in elections, and a free press. | His 40-year reign saw women receiving education and voting in elections, and a free press. |
| Mr Shah died at his Kabul residence in the presidential palace compound. | |
| The former king spent 28 years exiled in Italy, from where he witnessed his country laid low by war, and the rise of the harsh Islamic regime of the Taleban. | |
| Born in Kabul in 1914, Zahir Shah was educated in France and was only 19 when he ascended the throne in 1933 after his father was assassinated. | |
| Neutrality | |
| After World War II, in which he succeeded in maintaining both Afghanistan's neutrality and its borders, the king recognised the need for modernisation. | |
| Zahir Shah brought in foreign advisers, founded the first modern university, and fostered cultural and commercial relations with Europe. | |
| But amid the modernisation, dark undercurrents of wrangling between the country's tribal factions remained. | |
| In July 1973, while he was in Italy receiving medical treatment for an eye condition, Zahir Shah was ousted in a coup orchestrated by his cousin, Mohammad Daoud. | |
| Daoud opposed his efforts to open up the country and develop contacts with the West. | |
| In the years following the coup, the last monarch of a 200-year old Pashtun dynasty lived in a villa outside Rome. | |
| During this time Afghanistan descended into factional violence and war. | |
| In 2002, Zahir Shah returned to his country to attend a meeting, known as a loya jirga, to decide Afghanistan's future. | |
| He also moved back to into his former palace in the capital, Kabul. | |
| Zahir Shah's return to the palace was part of an agreement reached at the loya jirga, or grand assembly. | |
| He had agreed not to stand against Hamid Karzai for the post of Afghan head of state. | |
| "It gives me great pleasure to come back, great pleasure," the monarch said on returning to his country. | |
| The former king has eight children. One of them, Shah Mahmoud Zahir, died in Rome in 2002 at the age of 56. |