The former king was on exile for about 28 years in Italy, from where he has witnessed his country laid low by war, and the rise of the harsh Islamic regime of the Taleban.

Born in Kabul in 1914, Zahir Shah was educated in France and was only 19 when he ascended the throne in 1933 after his father was assassinated.

After World War II, in which he succeeded in maintaining both Afghanistan's neutrality and its borders, the king recognised the need for modernisation.

Source:Iran National Library