By Mahendra Ved, IANS
New Delhi : Afghanistan's last monarch, King Mohammed Zahir Shah, who passed away on Monday at the age of 92, was a friend of India who enjoyed a personal rapport with Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
The Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, although built after he was deposed, was India's gift to the Afghan people – made at Zahir Shah's request.
During his 40-year rule, many Indian freedom fighters, including Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, escaped British India to take refuge in Kabul. Many Indian communists took the Kabul route to the then Soviet Union.
Afghanistan was uncomfortable at the emergence of Pakistan because of the unresolved, British-delineated Durand Line, that now remains the international border between them, and the vast tribal land where even the British did not venture in. Kabul under Zahir Shah opposed Pakistan's admission to the United Nations.
Faced with a new, uncertain neighbour, the monarch used his ties with India and Iran to neutralize Pakistan's attempts to dominate the region.
He never stopped meeting Indian leaders even during his 29-year exile in Italy, when there were attempts to bring him back or play a role in ending the conflict at home.
Former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh's meeting with him in 1987 was important enough to irk the then Pakistani ruler, Zia-ul Haq, who said India had given Zahir Shah "the kiss of death."
Natwar Singh told IANS that following this meeting, then Afghan president Najibullah invited the king to return home and address the Loya Jirga, the grand assembly of tribal chiefs, as a move towards national reconciliation.
That did not come about because Zahir Shah was not willing to side with the either superpower, the US and the then Soviet Union, engaged through the 1980s in a conflict to control Afghanistan and the region.
He was troubled by the feuding Mujahideen, as also the emergence of the Taliban, who destroyed much of the country's social fabric and whatever was left of the infrastructure.
When US-led forces launched a military campaign to oust the Taliban in end-2001, Indian efforts brought together pro-Zahir Shah elements among the fighters and the Northern Alliance.
Even if weak, he was well meaning and provided the only period of peace the Afghans enjoyed during the last century. It was also the only phase of democracy in Afghanistan. He promulgated a constitution in 1964 and held elections to parliament and at lower levels.
Masood Khalili, former Afghan ambassador to India, recalls the use of radio and a nascent print medium by various parties to campaign in these elections.
He promoted social reforms despite the violent end one of his predecessors met because of the stiff opposition from the Muslim clergy.
He also promoted education for women and an end to 'purdah' – the wearing of the veil – for women, used foreign cash to develop the country's medieval infrastructure and managed to keep a balance between rival Soviet and Western interests.
He returned home in 2002 amidst demands that he assume the throne again. But stepped aside in favour of Hamid Karzai, a distant relation and the present president, ostensibly realizing that a monarchy could be limiting and unable to meet the challenges posed by decades of devastation.
He opened the Loya Jirga, telling his people: "The people are relying on you, and you should not forget them," the monarch told the Loya Jirga that ratified the charter. "I hope you will try your best to maintain peace, stability and the unity of the Afghan people."
A new constitution passed in January 2004 consigned the monarchy to history with Zahir Shah named the ceremonial "Baba-e-Qaum" (Father of the Nation), a symbolic position that has dissolved with his death.