Former king Mohammed Zahir Shah was due to step foot on Afghan soil for the first time in 29 years Thursday to assume a new role as father figure of the much traumatised nation.
The 87-year-old was being accompanied back to his homeland by interim leader Hamid Karzai to end an exile begun in 1973 when he was ousted in a bloodless coup led by his cousin Mohammed Daoud.
Zahir Shah's entourage was due to fly in to Kabul mid-morning after earlier leaving Rome and stopping shortly in a neighbouring country.
The king left Rome just after midnight local time (2210 GMT) under close watch from the Italian government, which is in charge of the king's welfare until the moment he touches down in Afghanistan.
Karzai's spokesman, Yusuf Nuristani, said Wednesday that Zahir Shah was due to land at Kabul international airport at around 10:00 am (0530 GMT).
The Italian government, which is in charge of the king's welfare until the moment he touches down in Afghanistan, had kept details of his journey secret for security reasons.
He will be accompanied by a 20-strong entourage including his three sons -- Ahmad Shah, Nader Shah and Mirwais Zahir -- and five other family members, another spokesman Zalmai Rasoul said.
His wife, ex-queen Homaira, will remain behind for health reasons.
A massive security operation is underway in the Afghan capital with the interim administration aware that it faces a severe test of its ability to secure the capital.
More than 200 people were arrested earlier this month for allegedly plotting a bombing campaign against the interim regime and leaders such as Karzai and the former king, officials said.
But the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has said it is satisfied that the security situation in Kabul has improved.
A spokesman said the close protection of the king was the responsibility of the interim administration, but ISAF ambulances will follow him from the airport back to his residence in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood.
The king's return will be a personal triumph for Karzai, thought to be one of few royalists within his cabinet.
On his arrival in Rome Tuesday, Karzai hailed the anticipated return of "a father figure and a symbol of the nation's unity."
Other powerful figures in the administration have stressed the king is returning as a private citizen.
Jalalabad governor Abdul Qadir, the most powerful man in eastern Afghanistan, told AFP Sunday that it remained to be seen whether the king could act as a unifying figure, saying he supported his homecoming in as much as he backed the return of anyone from the Afghan diaspora.
Zahir Shah is to inaugurate in June a Loya Jirga, a traditional Afghan grand assembly, which will select a transitional government to run the country for the next 18 months.
His support is strongest among fellow Pashtuns who, Karzai apart, have been kept out of the most powerful political posts in the post-Taliban era.
There a few outward signs of celebration in Kabul itself although most Afghans appear to welcome his return as a symbol of better times ahead.
Zahir Shah's reign is remembered affectionately as a time of relative peace which was later followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion, civil war and the American bombing campaign which led to the downfall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime late last year.
The ex-king will struggle to recognise much of the Afghan capital which has been the scene of a seemingly endless cycle of violence since his departure. Large swathes of Kabul were reduced to rubble during the civil war in the early 1990s.
Zahir Shah has kept a low-profile during his long years of exile in a villa just outside Rome.
But in a rare interview last month he said he wanted "to spend the last remaining years, the few years that I have left in front of me at the service of my people and my country."
"As a person of faith and as a Muslim I believe certain things will happen in life that cannot be averted, but I'm not afraid for my safety," he told CNN.
"Whatever sacrifice I will have to make, whatever the odds are I'm ready to serve my people and my country."
(China Daily April 18, 2002)
