11.   Haq had gone to Afghanistan with peace proposals on behalf of former king Mohammad Zaher Shah, an aide to the former monarch said in Rome.

12.   He became the first former monarch in eastern Europe to regain power through the ballot-box.

13.   However, an ethnic Tajik clique from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul had long opposed any role for the aged former monarch.

14.   However, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad blamed the delay on reports that the former monarch, Mohammad Zaher Shah, would be a candidate for head of state.

15.   Hundreds flock to meet son of former monarch.

16.   It is the first sign the former monarch is officially welcomed in his homeland.

17.   Italians escorted the former monarch home, and are protecting his house and training his bodyguards.

18.   Khalilzad said Karzai and the former monarch had agreed that Zaher Shah would not be a candidate.

19.   No former monarch has done as well as the Bulgarian king, embraced as a symbol of royal uprightness in the traditionally corrupt Balkans.

20.   On Saturday, Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim said that the former monarch was an elder statesman but threw his support to Karzai to remain as Afghan leader.