The King’s New Clothes
by
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan

Some say a Loya Jirga, a grand assembly, is the only solution to the Afghan problem. Others believe the former king is the last alternative. There are many sides to each of these agendas. The former as a traditional institution will be discussed in a future commentary. Let us consider the latter first:

Soon after the assassination of his father, the young prince Mohammad Zahir was used as a puppet king in the hands of his team of uncles headed by Mohammad Hashim. Mohammad Zahir Shah was only sixteen. His family played their cards well, evading bold actions for the progress of the country which had led to the downfall of the progressive King Amanullah just one year before the coronation of Mohammad Nadir. But that is another story and a long one at that.

However, the young King Zahir Shah was signing decrees which were written and approved by his powerful uncle Mohammad Hashim and the country was thus being ruled in his name by his uncle. When Mohammad Hashim died, his second brother Shah Mahmoud, a more open personality took the reign of government. King Zahir Shah, however, was still signing decrees which were written by his elders and or dictated by his family including two of his cousins Mohammad Daoud and Mohammad Naim. The country was still run in his name, by others.

Then his second uncle Shah Mahmoud was tricked into resigning from office and thus the reign of government was given to his nephew Mohammad Daoud as Prime Minister. Mohammad Daoud did not think much of the king and the king did not think much of him and in the power struggle King Zahir Shah resorted to a bold undertaking, namely promulgation of a new constitution which would separate powers of the state. Mohammad Daoud was banned by the constitution from taking any part as leader of any of the branches of the government.

Now King Zahir started signing decrees authored for himself. He began ruling the country himself rather than his uncles and cousins. His other cousin, the son of his third surviving uncle, who was his son-in-law was an exception. The new constitution provided for many freedoms which King Zahir hesitated to give to the people stating that probably it was too soon for the nation to be able to cherish a democracy which was introduced from the top.

King Zahir now began enjoying his new powers. He wanted the nation to believe that he had assigned responsibility to his courtiers while in actuality even the Prime Ministers had little power in making their cabinets without his approval of each and every one of its members. For example irrespective of who became the Prime Minister, he had to keep the Minister of Defense, the king’s man in his cabinet. On the other hand, a close circle of his confidants were influencing his decisions. In all of this he forgot that in his country illiteracy was rampant (90-95%), and that again there was a need for a more active leader in Afghanistan who would roll up his sleeves and participate in the hard task of development rather than playing the role of a selective observer.

King Zahir spoke French as a foreign language. I do not know if the children’s satire "The King’s New Clothes" has been published in French and even if it has, whether the King has ever come across it and read it. The above courtiers, played tailors with him and he went along and thought that everything was all right and that he need not roll up his sleeves and work because his courtiers were doing this for him. He took life easy, and perhaps a little too easy.

Yet his power thirsty cousin Mohammad Daoud, who did not believe in the policies of the king and feeling more nationalistic thought that he himself could lead the country towards rapid progress, planned a coup. To do this he went the wrong way and chose the wrong people as his friends and walked the wrong path of the so called socialism which was a cover word in the third world countries for the dreaded word communism. In this the Soviets saw an opportunity of a life time and extended their help to him. But soon after acquisition of power and declaring the country a republic, Mohammad Daoud became aware of his mistake. It was too late and the polar bear had been awakened and involved and refused to loosen its claws from around his neck .

The king in exile accepted the title of the deposed king and sent in his recognition of Mophammad Daoud’s regime. But Mohammad Daoud’s regime was not to survive communist intervention by the Soviets, who were eager to introduce a communist regime in Afghanistan paving the way for their progress towards the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and the sub-continent of India and beyond. Then the Soviets invaded and occupied Afghanistan.

Many things happened since then. The nation fought the superpower. The nation defeated the superpower. The nation attained its freedom from communist rule. The nation takes credit for the downfall of world communism. The king cannot. The deposed king, lived in Italy all along. A few tailors visited him and are still visiting him. His tailors told him that he can be considered a participant of his nation’s jihad if he published a declaration, once a year or so, stating that the Soviets should leave Afghanistan alone. Later, as his supporters would like the nation to believe, when the Soviets had obliged, too, the king continued to issue declarations propagating peace. Who wouldn’t and who didn’t? The warlords and the self interested politicians are of course the exceptions. But by then more than one and a half million Afghans had been killed and the country and its infrastructure had been destroyed and social values disrupted. In all of this the world and the king remained spectators.

Now the tailors have designed a new scheme. A gathering of the royalists attended by invitation only of a few people in the city of Bonn in Germany was quickly arranged last week to stamp the idea of a Loya Jirga as the only solution to the issue of Afghanistan. The meeting as expected also called the deposed king, now in his mid-eighties and in frail health, as the only leader capable to save Afghanistan.The gathering therefore suggested formation of four commissions and made them responsible for political affairs, financial affairs, security issues and arrangement for the Loya Jirga. This time the nation at large remained a spectator. The naive watched with interest and the warlords laughed at the idea. And the commissions are left with the grave task of generals without soldiers.

Some observers however, think that the institution of the Loya Jirga may be able to help the institution of monarchy. Others are hopeful that this may lead, eventually to finding of a way of getting the real people and not only the royalists involved.

So far none of the participants has asked the question of where is the king? And the former king has not shown up with his new clothes on. May be he has read the satire all along.