Nostalgia for royalty Former monarch's return makes many Afghan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The elderly man proclaims Afghanistan's drought is ending because the former king is back -- hopefully to reign again. "He is our fortune," he says.

No, says a younger man sitting across from him in a battered Kabul pharmacy: Democracy is the path to peace.

Two days after former king Mohammad Zaher Shah returned from exile, Afghans are debating whether restoring the monarchy could help ease their suffering.

Zaher Shah himself says he has no designs on the throne. But in a recent interview, he said he "cannot say no" if the people ask him to be king again.

Zaher Shah ruled for 40 years before being overthrown by his cousin in 1973. His reign did little to ease Afghanistan's poverty, but it is remembered as the country's last period of peace.

The former monarch's return from three decades of exile in Rome is part of a plan hammered out in Germany last year calling on Zaher Shah to convene a loya jirga, or national council, that will choose a new government in June.

Officials insist there are no plans to restore the monarchy, and that the 87-year-old former monarch is here as a "grandfather" figure who can help Afghanistan recover from decades of bloodshed.

But many Afghans interviewed in Kabul are expressing enthusiasm for restoring Zaher Shah to the throne, hoping that the loya jirga will decide to take that step.

"We are not a lucky people," Amir Uddin said, complaining about the 3-year-old drought as he sat in a drugstore with chipped paint and a caved-in roof. "As soon as Zaher Shah stepped on the ground here, the rain started and the Kabul river is flowing again."

Uddin, 80, said he has sweet memories of the ex-king's rule. Restored to the throne, Zaher Shah would "save Afghanistan," he said.

Mustafa, a 52-year-old pharmacist who gave only one name, disagreed.

"The monarchy is finished," he said. "The next step is elections, not bringing back the past."

Age no problem

Ahmad Shah, a third man in the store, said he agreed with Uddin that Zaher Shah should rule again and brushed aside a question about the ex-king's age.

"He didn't come back to box or to wrestle," Shah said.

In a Kabul neighborhood where there is no electricity and the mud dwellings are in ruins, a reporter asked dozens of children and adults Saturday whether they'd like to have Zaher Shah as king again.

"Yes! Yes!" they cried out in unison.

As they sang the ex-king's praises, however, a man on a green bicycle chimed in: "Zaher Shah is a sellout!"

Another man called him a "dog" for maligning the ex-king.