Mohammed Zahir Shah

After the British invasion after the killing of Sir Louis Cavagnari during 1879, Yaqub Khan, Yahya Khan and his sons Princes Mohammad Yusuf Khan and Mohammad Asef Khan were taken captive by the British and transferred to the British Raj, where they remained forcibly until the two princes were invited back to Afghanistan by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan during the last year of his reign (1901).

During the reign of Amir Habibullah they received the title of Companions of the King (Musahiban).

He was the son of Mohammad Nadir Shah (1883–1933) a senior member of the Mohammadzai Royal family. and commander in chief of the Royal Afghan Army for former king Amanullah Khan, and of Begum Mah Parwar Begum (d. 1941), a Pashtun tribe woman.

Zahir Shah was educated in a special class for princes at Elementary Primary, built in 1904 by the United Kingdom, and Habibia High School, where many subjects were taught in English.

For his secondary education, he went to the Amaniya High School (built during the reign of King Amanullah by France, where many subjects were taught in French. This school was renamed by Nadir Shah as Esteqlal High School) after the fall of King Amanullah.

Zahir Shah studied at the Infanterie Military School in the winter (school year in Kabul, 21 March to November).

He was then sent to France for further training.

He continued his education in France where his father had served as a diplomatic envoy, studying at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Montpellier.

When he returned to Afghanistan he helped his father and uncles restore order and reassert government control during a period of lawlessness in the country.

He was later enrolled at an Infantry School and appointed a privy counsellor.

Zahir Shah served in the government positions of deputy war minister and minister of education.

Mohammad Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: محمد ظاهر شاه; 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last King of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973.

Zahir Shah was born on 15 October 1914, in a city quarter called Deh Afghanan in Kabul, Afghanistan to a Pashtun family.

Nadir Shah assumed the throne after the execution of the self-proclaimed ruler of Afghanistan Habibullah Kalakani on 1 November 1929.

Mohammad Zahir's father, son of Sardar Mohammad Yusuf Khan, was born in Dehradun, British India, his family having been exiled after the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

Nadir Shah was a descendant of Sardar Sultan Mohammad Khan Telai, half-brother of Emir Dost Mohammad Khan.

His grandfather Mohammad Yahya Khan (father in law of Emir Yaqub Khan) was in charge of the negotiations with the British resulting in the Treaty of Gandamak.

By the end of the 1930s, agreements on foreign assistance and trade had been reached with many countries, most notably with the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Zahir Shah provided aid, weapons, and Afghan fighters to the Uighur and Kirghiz Muslim rebels who had established the First East Turkestan Republic.

Zahir Khan was proclaimed king (shah) on 8 November 1933 at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father Mohammad Nadir Shah.

After his ascension to the throne he was given the regnal title "He who puts his trust in God, follower of the firm religion of Islam".

For the first twenty years he did not effectively rule, ceding power to his paternal uncles, Mohammad Hashim Khan and Shah Mahmud Khan, both serving as prime ministers.

This period fostered a growth in Afghanistan's relations with the international community as during 1934, Afghanistan joined the League of Nations while also receiving formal recognition from the United States.

The aid was not capable of saving the First East Turkestan Republic, as the Afghan, Uighur, and Kirghiz forces were defeated in 1934 by the Kuomintang Chinese Muslim New 36th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, commanded by General Ma Zhancang at the Battle of Kashgar and Battle of Yarkand.

All the Afghan volunteers were killed by the Chinese Muslim troops, who then abolished the First East Turkestan Republic, and reestablished Chinese government control over the area.

Despite close relations to the Axis powers, Zahir Shah and his governments refused to take sides during World War II and Afghanistan remained one of the few countries in the world to remain neutral.

Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan since the foundation of the Durrani Empire in the 18th century.

He expanded Afghanistan's diplomatic relations with many countries, including with both sides of the Cold War.

From 1944 to 1947, Afghanistan experienced a series of revolts by various tribes.

After the end of World War II, Zahir Shah recognised the need for the modernisation of Afghanistan and recruited a number of foreign advisers to assist with the process.

During this period Afghanistan's first modern university was founded.

During his reign a number of potential advances and reforms were derailed as a result of factionalism and political infighting.

He also requested financial aid from both the United States and the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan was one of few countries in the world to receive aid from both Cold War adversaries.

In the 1950s, Zahir Shah began modernizing the country, culminating in the creation of a new constitution and a constitutional monarchy system.

Demonstrating nonpartisanism, his long reign was marked by peace in the country which was lost afterwards with the onset of the Afghan conflict.

In a 1969 interview, Zahir Shah said that he is "not a capitalist. But I also don't want socialism. I don't want socialism that would bring about the kind of situation [that exists] in Czechoslovakia. I don't want us to become the servants of Russia or China or the servant of any other place."

He was considered a relatively lenient leader compared to previous kings; Zahir Shah had never signed a warrant for the execution of anyone for political reasons during his reign.

In 1973, while Zahir Shah was undergoing medical treatment in Italy, his regime was overthrown in a coup d'état by his cousin and former prime minister, Mohammad Daoud Khan, who established a single-party republic, ending more than 225 years of continuous monarchical government.

He remained in exile near Rome until 2002, returning to Afghanistan after the end of the Taliban government.

He was given the title Father of the Nation, which he held until his death in 2007.