Editing Mohammad Zahir Shah (section)

==Exile==
{{See also|1973 Afghan coup d'état}}
In 1973, while Zahir Shah was abroad in Italy, his cousin [[Mohammad Daoud Khan]] staged a [[coup d'état]] and established an autocratic republican government.<ref name="Britannica" /> As a former Prime Minister, Daoud Khan had been forced to resign by Zahir Shah a decade earlier<ref name=NYTobit /> and felt that Zahir Shah lacked leadership and that the parliamentary system prevented real progressivism.<ref name="Kamali1985">{{cite book|author=Mohammad Hashim Kamali|title=Law in Afghanistan: A Study of the Constitutions, Matrimonial Law and the Judiciary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ksC-BL2WivUC|date= 1985|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-07128-8}}{{page needed|date=July 2020}}</ref> In August 1973,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mohammed Zahir Shah |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mohammad-Zahir-Shah |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2 June 2018}}</ref><ref name=NYTobit /> Zahir Shah sent a letter from Rome to Khan in Kabul declaring his [[abdication]], saying he respected "the will of my compatriots" after realizing the people of Afghanistan "with absolute majority welcomed a Republican regime".<ref>[http://afghandata.org:8080/jspui/bitstream/azu/6329/1/azu_acku_serial_ds350_a37_a34_v26_n2_w.pdf Afghan Data]</ref>

Zahir Shah lived in exile in Italy for 29 years alongside his wife Queen [[Humaira Begum]] and other royal family members. Initially, they lived in a three‐room apartment on Rome's [[Via Cassia]]. Relatives of the 1920s King [[Amanullah Khan]], of the same [[Barakzai dynasty|house of Barakzai]], also lived in Rome. President Daoud Khan continued to send money to them in Italy consisting of income from property and estates of the former royal family. After the [[Saur Revolution]], the leftist [[Khalq]] government cut all funds to Italy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/29/archives/afghan-king-in-rome-exile-tightens-belt-daud-sent-money-to-family.html|title=Afghan King, in Rome Exile, Tightens Belt|newspaper=The New York Times|date=29 April 1979}}</ref>

Zahir Shah eventually lived in a [[villa]] in the affluent community of Olgiata on Via Cassia, north of Rome, where he spent his time playing golf and chess, as well as tending to his garden.<ref name=Judah /><ref name=war /><ref>{{cite news |last=Gall |first=Sandy |title=Mohammad Zahir Shah |work=The Guardian |date=23 July 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jul/23/guardianobituaries.afghanistan |access-date=18 March 2008}}</ref> He was financially supported by the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]] since the new Afghan government failed to provide him a monthly salary. The Shah also supported his two sons who were studying in the United States and Canada.<ref>Memoirs of Asadollah Alam{{full citation needed|date=October 2020}}</ref> He was prohibited from returning to Afghanistan during the late 1970s by the Soviet-assisted Communist government. In 1983 during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], Zahir Shah was cautiously involved with plans to develop a government in exile. Ultimately these plans failed because he could not reach a consensus with powerful Islamist factions.<ref name=DTking /> It has also been reported that Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, and India had all tried to persuade Zahir Shah to return as chief of a neutral, possibly interim, administration in Kabul.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/07/world/india-to-provide-aid-to-government-in-afghanistan.html|title=India to Provide Aid to Government in Afghanistan|first1=Barbara|last1=Crossette|date=7 March 1989|access-date=8 March 2019|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Both the Soviet Union and the United States sent representatives to meet him, and President [[Mohammad Najibullah]] supported Zahir Shah to play a role in a possible interim government in the quest for peace.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/01/17/tough-talk-from-najibullah/889d2a64-f99e-45b6-9f66-1e9c22888f1e/|title=Tough Talk From Najibullah |first=Lally|last=Weymouth|date=17 January 1988|via=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> In May 1990, Zahir Shah issued a long statement through [[Voice of America]] and the [[BBC]] calling for unity and peace among Afghans, and offering his services. This reportedly led to a spark of interest and approval among the Kabul populace. However, the idea of a revived political role for Zahir Shah was met with hostility by some, notably radical Islamist [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/03/world/king-of-afghanistan-after-17-years-in-exile-is-on-the-people-s-minds-again.html|title=King of Afghanistan, After 17 Years in Exile, Is on the People's Minds Again|first1=John F.|last1=Burns|date=3 June 1990|access-date=8 March 2019|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1991, Zahir Shah survived an attempt on his life by a knife-wielding assassin masquerading as a [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] journalist<ref name=NYTobit /> who later revealed that the attempted assassination was ordered by [[Osama bin Laden]]. The assassin stated “Now I must kill you”, before stabbing Zahir Shah in his breast-pocket, the former king’s life being saved by a tin of Café Crème [[Cigarillo|cigarillos]]. The assassin then stabbed Zahir Shah in the neck several times, before being overpowered by former General Abdul Wali. Zahir Shah was rushed to hospital and later recovered, with the assassin being sentenced to 10 years in a high-security prison in [[Rebibbia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-04-14 |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=2024-04-08 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> After the fall of the pro-Soviet government, Zahir Shah was favored by many to return and restore the monarchy to unify the country as he was acceptable to most factions. However, these efforts were blocked mostly by Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]], who feared his stance on the [[Durand Line]] issue.<ref>''US-Pakistan Relations: Pakistan's Strategic Choices in the 1990s'' by Nasra Talat Farooq</ref> In June 1995, Zahir Shah's former envoy Sardar Wali announced at talks in [[Islamabad]], Pakistan, that Zahir Shah was willing to participate in peace talks to end the [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Afghan Civil War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/01/16/Af_chronology_1995-.pdf|title=Justice|website=justice.gov|access-date=8 March 2019}}</ref> but no consensus was ever reached.