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Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Former King Ill
2007-01-03
The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, is ill, said a spokesperson for the king's family on Tuesday. Reports quoting the spokesman, Fazl Ahmad Popal, said that the king is unable to hold any meetings as he is stable "under the care of doctors in bed." The former monarch, who lives in Kabul, holds no power but was given the honorary title of "Father of the Nation" when he returned to his home country in 2002 after the hardline Taliban regime was ousted. Zahir Shah, 92, had spent decades of exile in Italy.

The king's family spokesman, Popal, said the Zahir Shah had recently travelled to a Gulf country for a medical check-up. Zahir Shah became king in 1933 after his father was assassinated by a deranged student. He was overthrow in a bloodless leftist coup led by a cousin in 1973.
Posted by:Fred

#1  Among other things, Zahir Shah is the last surviving head of state from the World War 2 era, though Afghanistan was neutral in that conflict.
The last surviving head of state of a WW2 combatant, and simultaneously the last to serve, was none other than Hirohito of Japan, who remained on the throne until his death in 1989.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2007-01-03 03:07  

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