Mohammad Zahir Shah
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
| File:Mohammed Zahir Shah.jpg | |
| Reign | 1933-11-08 - 1973-07-17 |
| Predecessor | Mohammed Nadir Shah |
| Heir Apparent | None |
| Spouse | Humaira Begum (deceased) |
| Issue | Muhammad Akbar Khan Ahmed Shah Khan Muhammad Nadir Khan Shah Mahmud Khan Muhammad Daud Pashtunyar Khan Mir Wais Khan Bilqis Begum Maryam Begum |
| Dynasty | Barakzai |
| Father | Mohammed Nadir Shah |
| Mother | Mah Parwar Begum |
| Born | 1914-10-16 Kabul, Afghanistan |
Mohammed Zahir Shah (born 16 October 1914 in Kabul) was the last King (Shah) of Afghanistan, reigning for four decades from 1933 to 1973.
Origins
Zahir Shah was born as an ethnic Pashtun, into a Persian speaking Mohammedzai family of the Barakzai clan, in Afghanistan. His Pashtun heritage and Persian tongue gave him credibility with both groups: the powerful Pashto speakers of the south and the Persian speakers of Kabul.
Rule
On 8 November 1933, he was proclaimed king after his father, Mohammed Nadir Shah, was assassinated.
In 1964, he promulgated a new constitution.
He instituted programs of political and economic modernization, ushering in a democratic legislature, education for women and other such changes. These reforms put him at odds with the religious militants who opposed him.
Exile
In 1973, his cousin and former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan staged a coup d'état, and established a republican government while Mohammed Zahir Shah was in Italy undergoing eye surgery. Following this coup, Zahir Shah abdicated in August, ending the Barakzai Dynasty.
Zahir Shah lived in exile in Italy for twenty-nine years.
He refused to return as a puppet leader during Soviet-backed Communist rule in the late 1970s, and remained aloof from the bloody feuds that followed the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
Return
In April 2002, he returned to Afghanistan while the country was under American occupation to open the Loya jirga which met in June 2002. He moved back into his old palace in central Kabul and after pressure by the Americans decided not to seek the throne, even though there was some support for his return among the population.
Shah is seen as a symbol of unity for Afghanistan and has been given the title "Father of the Nation". However, critics contend that in Afghanistan's most difficult moments, he remained comfortably secluded in Italy and refused to speak out against the Taliban. Other criticisms include his kindness toward India and his policy toward the Durand Line, in which he has favored carving out a separate Afghan ethnic homeland from northwest Pakistan.
On 21 June 2003, while in France for a medical check-up, he broke his femur by slipping in a bathroom. Rumors of his death followed both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (In an October 2002 visit to France, he had also slipped in a bathroom, bruising his ribs.)
On 3 February 2004, Shah was flown from Kabul to New Delhi, India for medical treatment after complaining of an intestinal problem. He was hospitalized for two weeks, and remained in New Delhi under observation. On 18 May 2004, he was brought to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates because of nose bleeding caused by heat. He was reported in stable condition as of May 2004. He was next scheduled to visit France to cure his stomach disease.
Shah attended the 7 December 2004 swearing in of Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan in Kabul.
On 2 January 2007, Shah was reported to be seriously ill and bedridden.