Report: Ex-Afghan King to Return
Feb. 22 -- The former king of Afghanistan reportedly plans to return to his country within a month, after nearly three decades of exile in Rome.
Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah, 87, who ruled Afghanistan for 40 years, hopes to return in time to celebrate the Afghan new year on March 21, an Afghan official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.
Many Afghans recall Zahir Shah's reign as a relatively stable golden era for the country. Zahir Shah's cousin deposed him in 1973 in a bloodless coup.
Zahir Shah's return would precede the convening of a loya jirga — a "grand assembly" of Afghan elders that is supposed to choose a permanent government to succeed the six-month interim administration of Prime Minister Hamid Karzai. Karzai, a supporter of the former king, took power in December.
But signs of unrest remain in Afghanistan. Regional warlords continue to skirmish for power in southeastern and northern Afghanistan, international peacekeeping troops in Kabul say they have twice come under fire during the past week, and Karzai says the killing of his administration's aviation and tourism minister was the result of a plot within his administration.
A CIA analysis reportedly has cited concerns about stability in Afghanistan, and today Zalamai Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, held talks with Karzai about concerns over the tourism minister's killing and the region's security, an Afghan official told Reuters.
On Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hinted for the first time that he might have to change his long-standing argument against a U.S. peacekeeping role in Afghanistan. He said he was unsure what eventually might be necessary. "It's not a pretty picture," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
Karzai has accused officials in his government formerly affiliated with the Northern Alliance faction of killing his minister, Abdul Rehman, but other Afghan officials have denied an internal government plot in the killing. Karzai has asked Saudi Arabia to turn over a number of suspects in the case.
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