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watch One-Minute World News Last Updated: Monday, 23 July 2007,
07:15 GMT 08:15 UK Obituary: Ex-king Zahir Shah Zahir Shah Zahir
Shah was a symbol of Afghan unity  During Mohammad Zahir Shah's
40-year rule of Afghanistan, the country was transformed into a
modern democracy. In 2002, the ex-king returned home after
nearly three decades in exile, to become a unifying symbol of
peace and freedom among his former people.  Born in Kabul in
1914, Zahir Shah was educated in France. The last monarch of a
200-year-old Pashtun dynasty, he ascended the throne, aged 19,
in 1933, following the assassination of his father, Nadir Shah.
During World War II, the king safeguarded his country's
neutrality and, throughout his reign, Afghanistan enjoyed a
period of stability.  Foreign advisers helped the king modernise
his nation and, in 1964, his new constitution transformed the
country into one with free elections, civil rights, female
emancipation and universal suff