Word: zahir
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...Karzai's hedging may be a reflection of his own precarious political position, caught between Pashtun politics and the need to stay on the right side of the U.S. An ethnic Pashtun loyal to the exiled King Zahir Shah, Karzai's political base remains narrow even among the Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group. He heads up a government dominated by the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance, and right now that government remains little more than an a deal on paper which is being loudly challenged by many of the regional warlords who have taken over from the Taliban but feel...
...Across the table from the emissaries of Rabbani and Uzbek warlord General Rashid Dostum sit three delegations whose co mbined weight isn't even close to that of the Northern Alliance: A deputation sent by the exiled King Zahir Shah; another representing Pakistan-based Pashtun warlords loyal to the king; and a third representing exiled intellectuals and Iran-backed Pashtun mujahedeen commanders. Most notably absent, are not only the Taliban, but also representatives of the Pashtun tribal leaders and warlords who have filled the void left by the retreating zealots in much of southern Afghanistan. The Pashtun are Afghanistan...
...Outside Kandahar, some anti-Taliban forces mobilized behind Hamid Karzai, a commander who supports the exiled King Mohammed Zahir Shah. Karzai spent weeks working undercover in Afghanistan, drawing on his old tribal networks and recruiting chieftains to join the battle. His strategy was to sever the Taliban from its tribal links, winning over local chiefs with promises of peace and international aid. Karzai's men advanced from Uruzgan, north of Kandahar; on the other side of the city, thousands of armed men from southern border towns loyal to another tribal elder, Ghul Agha Sherzai, moved into positions in the hills...
...violent pastViolence, betrayal, intrigue and infighting have been endemic to Afghanistan's politics for the past quarter century, first among the royals, then among the communists and finally among the anti-Soviet mujahedeen - and right now its the latter who are reclaiming power. King Zahir Shah, who the U.S. hopes will return from exile in Rome and lead a democratic renaissance, was overthrown in 1973 by his cousin, Mohammed Daoud, who was himself overthrown by a communist military coup in 1978. But as infighting among two rival communist factions became more violent and chaotic, the Soviets invaded...
...while the old mujahedeen carve the south into fiefdoms, Northern Alliance commanders appear to have done the same with the major towns of northern Afghanistan. Nobody is waiting for the king to lend his authority to a power grab, because he simply doesn't have any. Not surprisingly, Zahir Shah has no plans to return to Afghanistan just...