Afghanistan's last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, died in Kabul on Monday aged 92, mourned by the war-torn country where he had spent his final years after returning from three decades of exile. President Hamid Karzai declared three days of mourning for the "Father of the Nation," whose 40-year rule until 1973 is remembered as a time of peace and stability in the Central Asian country before its descent into chaos. Afghan flags flew at half mast and state-run and private television channels alike replaced scheduled programmmes with recitations of the Koran and sombre religious chanting.
Zahir Shah ended Afghanistan's centuries-old monarchy when he abdicated while on holiday in Italy in 1973, after hearing his former premier Mohammad Daud, who was also his cousin, had staged a coup. He stayed in exile during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation and ensuing civil war but returned home months after the 2001 collapse of the ultra-Islamist Taliban regime brought by the US-led invasion after the 9/11 attacks.
Karzai announced the king's death in the presidential palace, saying: "I want to inform all my compatriots that his majesty, the Father of the Nation, Mohammed Zahir Shah, passed away today at 5:45 am." The former king died in his Kabul residence after a long illness, he said.
"We announce three days of national mourning over the death of the father of the nation, and the Afghan flag will be at half mast for three days," Karzai added. "Prayer ceremonies will be held across the country, in the capital, in the provinces, by Afghan refugees overseas and in Afghan embassies."
Prayers for the late king will be held on Wednesday, and the funeral will take place the following day to allow time for foreign guests, including prime ministers and foreign ministers, to attend, a government official told AFP.
Zahir Shah was awarded the title "Father of the Nation" at a constitutional assembly after his return home from exile. Despite pressure from tribal leaders and fellow Pashtuns, Zahir Shah repeatedly said he had no desire to again lead his country.
He was in poor health for the last years of his life.
His wife Homaira, whom he married in 1931, died as preparations were under way for her to return to Afghanistan to join her husband in 2002. The couple had five sons and two daughters.
Born on October 15, 1914, Zahir Shah took the throne at age 19 after being at the side of his father, king Nadir Shah, when he was shot dead in 1933 by a teenager at a school awards ceremony on the lawns of a Kabul palace.
Under his reign, a 1964 constitution turned Afghanistan into a modern democracy with free elections, a parliament and civil rights. However there were underlying problems, as the king was considered weak, there was widespread nepotism and a faltering economy. The tensions boiled over into the 1973 coup.
From Europe, Zahir Shah watched his country unravel, wracked by the Soviet occupation, an ensuing civil war and the hardline rule of the Taliban.
The Taliban paid tribute to the king's earlier years but said that he was used by the United States to serve its own interests after his return -- a five-year period that has seen the militants intensify a bloody insurgency. "The father of the nation was a known figure in the history of Afghanistan and enjoyed a lot of credibility," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP in a telephone call from an unknown location. "Unfortunately, recently the Americans used him for their interests -- from his return to Afghanistan until the day he died, he served US interests and became a stooge in recent years," Ahmadi said.