ROME, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The former Afghan king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, plans to return to his country in March to call the traditional loya jirga, or tribal council, that will decide Afghanistan's political future, one of his advisers told United Press International Friday.
It will be the former king's first visit to Afghanistan since he was deposed in a bloodless coup nearly 29 years ago. Zahir Shah, who is 87 and lives in exile near Rome, has no plans to restore the monarchy, but his U.S. and U.N. supporters see him as a vital unifying figure in the process of reshaping the war-ravaged, faction-ridden country.
The loya jirga of around 2,000 members represents all of Afghanistan's significant ethnic and tribal groups, and can only be called by the king. It has met periodically to debate the country's future ever since the Middle Ages, though it was last called during Zahir Shah's reign in 1968.
Its purpose will be to determine the makeup of the government that will rule Afghanistan when the present interim government's mandate expires around mid-year.
Afghanistan's U.N.-sponsored interim multi-ethnic government, headed by Hamid Karzai, took office Dec. 22 for a period of six months. It includes representatives nominated by Zahir Shah.
Advisers to the exiled king said he feared racial tensions stoked by outsiders could undermine the work of the Karzai government.
"His majesty is pleased with the work so far, but he has identified the area of ethnic tensions as a potential problem," one key member of the former king's inner circle told UPI. "Many Afghans are willing to put these tensions (aside) ... but foreign interests have historically brought them to the front."
The aide, who asked not to be identified, declined to elaborate, but was presumed to be referring to regional players seeking influence within Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, another adviser to the former king told UPI the exiled monarch had been in touch with members of Karzai's government to stress the issue of women's rights in Afghanistan. Women were mistreated and stripped of their rights under Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers.
Though many rights have been reinstated under the new government, the aide said, Zahir Shah feared the issue could lose momentum if those rights were not officially guaranteed.
The former king "is a long-time advocate of women's rights (and) he sees the issue as a leading part of the effort to stabilize the situation in the country," the aide said.
During Zahir Shah's 40-year reign, women's rights in Afghanistan improved considerably, especially in the wake of the country's 1964 constitution, which gave women limited rights to vote, hold public office and dress as they pleased.
Two women were part of Zahir Shah's representatives to last November's U.N.-sponsored conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany, that led to the formation of the interim government.
