Posted on 07/22/2007 10:09:11 PM PDT by HAL9000
Just reported on BBC World broadcast...
Former King of Afganistan dies - Mohammed Zahir Shah
LATEST: The former king of Afghanistan has died, a source tells the BBC. More soon.
He was mentioned a bunch in the Kite Runner. Great book.
So, what does THIS mean??? Anything???
No, he’s been a nothing for decades.
When he did rule he was an utter failure.
He was helpful in establishing a legitimate government in Afghanistan after the Taliban fell. That will be his legacy.
“He was helpful in establishing a legitimate government in Afghanistan after the Taliban fell. That will be his legacy.”
Despite himself.
He wanted to be king - the loya jirga said no.
He played a purely ceremonial role.
RIP.
1973- Military coup in Afghanistan; King Mohammad Zahir Shah flees
http://www.magic-city-news.com/Today_in_History_11/July_17_-_Today_in_History_18051805.shtml
Was he a good man?
But he wasn’t an evil creep murdering thousands was he?
We have plenty of American Senate and Congressmen who fit the discription you posted.
Wish washy types too, but well meaning.
That reminds me of an article I posted here a few months before 9/11 -
U.S plans to impose Zahir Shah on Afghans: Hekmatyar
And he did serve briefly as Afghanistan's interim leader before Karzai took office.
kinda - through neglect.
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.
Critics however, claim Zahir’s rule as one of the darkest times of economic mismanagement in Afghanistan. During his reign hundreds of thousands of people of the central and northern highlands died as a result of lack of supply of food, while he built castles and bought palaces in Kabul and Italy. All the major governments posts were distributed to the people of his family. No new roads, highways, dams and other infrastructure was built during his entire rule if the Helmand Valley project and other efforts are disregarded. Public and private sectors were heavily Pashtunized where only people of King’s ethnic group could rise in ranks. Non-Pashtun ethnic groups of Afghanistan were heavily persecuted and were only allowed access to few offices and positions. Famine killed thousands and the infrastructure outside the capital Kabul was devastated.
At the end of Zahir Shah’s reign only 50 kilometers of asphalt road existed in the whole of Afghanistan and the economy was in crisis.
If you’re curious google Helmand Valley project - it was doomed to failure from the get-go, and did fail.
Well so much for his being pro educate women.
Can’t educate them if your are hoarding all the other funds so that they can eat/work and GET to school.
Wonder if he was a lil nervous about taking a title that was filled because Dad was assasinated.
Well, don’t look at me.
Since there were less then five hundred vehicles in Afghanistan in total and only one in the South, at Kandahar (a Chevrolet), then this was not a big problem.
Zahir Shah’s reign was a golden time in Afghanistan’s recent history. I do not recognize your description of Afghanistan or Zahir Shah.
” Since there were less then five hundred vehicles in Afghanistan in total and only one in the South, at Kandahar (a Chevrolet), then this was not a big problem.”
That’s because the economy was crap, and he and his family kept all the wealth and had all the cars. Think of how little development there was in the country such that it only had 500 cars! That makes things worse not better.
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