Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

=== 1991 ===
To prevent the former Afghan king [[Mohammed Zahir Shah]] from coming back from exile and possibly becoming head of a new government, bin Laden instructed a Portuguese convert to [[Islam]], Paulo Jose de Almeida Santos, to assassinate Zahir Shah. On November 4, 1991, Santos entered the king's villa in [[Rome]] posing as a journalist and tried to stab him with a dagger. A tin of [[cigarillo]]s in the king's breast pocket deflected the blade and saved Zahir Shah's life, although the king was also stabbed several times in the neck and was taken to hospital, later recovering from the attack. Santos was apprehended by General Abdul Wali, a former commander of the [[Royal Afghan Army]], and jailed for 10 years in Italy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bergen|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Bergen|date=2021|title=The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWI7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-982170-52-3|pages=60–61}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=April 14, 2002|title=Bin Laden 'tried to kill king'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1390843/Bin-Laden-tried-to-kill-king.html|access-date=April 8, 2024|website=The Telegraph}}</ref>