Word: kabul
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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ALEX PERRY, our New Delhi bureau chief, who reported on the battle of Qala-i-Jangi in late November, returned to Mazar-i-Sharif two weeks ago, only to be called eastward to Kabul to help cover the fighting near Gardez...
...Mazar's warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum is engaging in a wave of ethnic cleansing against the area's Pashtun minority. There are continuing stories of rape, looting and pillage against them. On the surface, Mazar appears to have moved beyond the war, but it is a powder keg. Kabul, on the other hand, is clearly a war zone. Reaching the city after a trip over the mountains, we went through numerous strict security checks; 50 miles from the city, I saw warplanes and Apache attack helicopters in the air. There is a curfew in town, and tales of kidnappings...
...monarch also has some personal priorities upon his return. One of his first visits outside Kabul will be to a small farm 30 km north of the capital where he'd once grown grapes, melons and pears. After heavy fighting in the region, Zahir Shah doesn't know if the trees survived - or if they will ever bear fruit again...
Zahir Shah, 87, is expected to touch down this week in Kabul for the first time since he was ousted in a bloodless coup by a cousin in 1973. Security will be extraordinary as the former King is accompanied from Rome by interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. Both Karzai's presence and the tight security are signs that Afghanistan's good guys and bad guys alike believe the royal leader may possess a singular power to unify the fractured nation. A European official with extensive experience in the region said the ex-monarch's popular support is remarkably strong...
Though he plans to continue to shuttle between Kabul and Rome, where most of his family will remain, Zahir Shah says his return to Afghanistan is permanent. With the royal palace virtually destroyed, the ex-King and his small delegation will be staying in a cluster of hilltop residences that once housed the royal court and later top Taliban leaders...