June 3, 2002	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

KABUL, June 2: Former Afghan king Mohammad Zahir Shah has fallen ill for the first time since returning from exile two months ago, a royal spokesman said on Sunday.

Spokesman Amin Sediq did not give any details about the illness affecting the king, who is expected on June 10 to open the Loya Jirga, a traditional Afghan assembly that will choose a new government.

The illness has forced Zahir Shah, 87, to postpone his first tour to various parts of Afghanistan where he had planned to enlist the support of local leaders and military commanders for interim government leader Hamid Karzai, Sediq told Reuters.

Karzai’s interim government was installed late last year under accords reached in Bonn among Afghanistan’s feuding factions, following the demise of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.

“We will announce the (new) time of the trips before his departure, after he recovers,” Sediq said.

Interim administration officials said Zahir Shah is under the care of Afghan and foreign doctors at his villa in Kabul, where he has set up residence since returning from Italy after 30 years in exile.

The king, who has been frail for years, is regarded as the father of the Afghan nation, which is seeking to end more than two decades of war with a political solution.—Reuters