Attempted assassination of Zahir Shah
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| Attempted assassination of Zahir Shah | |
|---|---|
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Date | November 4, 1991 |
| Target | Zahir Shah |
| Weapons | Paper Cutter |
| Injured | 1 (Zahir Shah) |
| Perpetrator | Al Qaeda |
| Motive | Prevent the Najibullah government from restoring the Afghan monarchy |
On November 4, 1991, Zahir Shah, the exiled King of Afghanistan, was stabbed and wounded by Paulo Jose de Almeida Santos, a Portuguese convert to Islam posing as a journalist.[1][2][3]
Background
[edit]In 1973, King Zahir Shah was removed from power in a bloodless coup by his cousin and former Prime Minister, Daoud Khan who abolished the monarchy and established a republic with himself as president.[4][5] In April, 1978, Daoud Khan was killed by soldiers loyal to the Khalq faction of the PDPA during the Saur Revolution.[6]
In December, 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan killing General Secretary Hafizullah Amin and replacing him with Babrak Karmal, beginning the Soviet Afghan war. In 1987, Mohammad Najibullah managed to oust Karmal in a power struggle and created a new constitution, restoring the country to its pre-1978 name of "the Republic of Afghanistan" and removing communist ideology as a whole in favour of the free market.[7][8]
Under Najibullah, the former King's citizenship was restored and the Najibullah government and the Soviets attempted to involve the former King in negotiations to end the Afghan Civil War including a possible restoration of the monarchy.[9][10][11] Zahir Shah was considered popular among most Afghans, both rural and urban.[9]
Attempted assassination
[edit]To prevent the former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah from coming back from exile and possibly becoming head of a new government, bin Laden instructed a Portuguese convert to Islam, Paulo Jose de Almeida Santos, to assassinate Zahir Shah. On November 4, 1991, Santos entered the king's villa in Rome posing as a journalist and tried to stab him with a dagger.
A tin of cigarillos in the king's breast pocket deflected the blade and saved Zahir Shah's life, although the king was also stabbed several times in the neck and was taken to hospital, later recovering from the attack.[12] Santos was apprehended by General Abdul Wali, a former commander of the Royal Afghan Army, and jailed for 10 years in Italy.[2][3]
While it was initially suspected that it may have been orchestrated by factions of the mujahideen opposed to the return of Zahir Shah, it was later revealed by Santos in 2002 that he was commissioned by the Arab foreign fighter, Osama Bin Laden who wanted to prolong the civil war in Afghanistan and viewed Zahir Shah as a threat to that goal due to his popularity among the Afghan population.[2][3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Former Afghan king stabbed - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2025-10-07.
- ^ a b c Bergen, Peter (2021). The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-982170-52-3.
- ^ a b c "Bin Laden 'tried to kill king'". The Telegraph. April 14, 2002. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ "Afghan King Overthrown; A Republic Is Proclaimed". The New York Times. July 18, 1973. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
- ^ Arnold, Anthony (June 1985). Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion in Perspective. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817982133.
- ^ "Nushin Arbabzadah: Sardar Daud Khan remembered". the Guardian. 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
- ^ Kalinovsky, Artemy (2011). A Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan. Harvard University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-674-05866-8.
- ^ "THE CONSTITUTION OF AFGHANISTAN". www.dircost.unito.it. Retrieved 2025-10-07.
- ^ a b "Former Afghan king stabbed - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2025-10-07.
- ^ Maley, William (2002), Maley, William (ed.), "The Interregnum of Najibullah, 1989–1992", The Afghanistan Wars, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 168–193, doi:10.1007/978-1-4039-1840-6_9, ISBN 978-1-4039-1840-6, retrieved 27 December 2022
- ^ "Afghan President Najibullah has no objection to King Zahir Shah participating in new govt". India Today. 31 May 1988. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ "AFGHANS' EX-KING STABBED IN ROME (Published 1991)". 1991-11-05. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18. Retrieved 2025-10-07.