ROME, April 16: Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai landed in Rome on Tuesday to bring former king Mohammad Zahir Shah home from a 29-year exile in the Italian capital.

Karzai and other supporters of the king hope he can unite Afghanistan’s rival ethnic groups under a single national banner once he returns to Kabul, even though he will be an ordinary citizen, not a monarch.

The king’s long-expected return was put back from last month following security threats, but Italy, which is responsible for his safety, has said it is confident all appropriate security measures are now in place for the journey.

Several Afghan and Italian ministers will travel with Karzai and the ex-king on the return flight, which will first take the delegation to an undisclosed country neighbouring Afghanistan and then on to Kabul.—Reuters