MOHAMMAD Zaher Shah, Afghanistan's deposed king, ended 29 years in exile yesterday, arriving at Kabul airport to a red carpet, a guard of honour and a crowd of dignitaries. It was a historic return that many believe will help bring stability to the war-torn country and unify its ethnic and tribal groups.

Flown in from Rome on an Italian military aircraft, Mr Zaher Shah was accompanied by Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai and six Afghan Cabinet ministers.

Dozens of tribal leaders waited patiently as the crowd waved pictures of the 87-year-old former king.

UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, and powerful northern warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum also watched nearby.

''It is a significant day,'' Mr Karzai said earlier. ''His presence will add to stability and peace in Afghanistan.''

Mr Karzai dismissed concerns about the former king's safety in Afghanistan, saying a three-week delay of his trip was prompted by the perception in Italy and elsewhere of threats against him - not the reality on the ground.

The former king has said he has no plans to restore the monarchy, but many Afghans believe he will serve as a unifying and stabilising figure for a country devastated by 23 years of war, poverty, and division.

In June, the former monarch is to preside over a grand national assembly of tribal leaders and other Afghan representatives who will select a transitional government that will rule Afghanistan until elections.

Zaher Shah was deposed in 1973 by a cousin, Mohammed Daoud, while on holiday in Italy and has lived there ever since. His return became possible after US-led forces defeated Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers last year.

In an interview last month, Zaher Shah said he wanted to spend his last years in Afghanistan serving his people and did not fear for his safety.

''I am a patriot who does his duty,'' he said. ''I will carry out any role or mission the people of Afghanistan wish to bestow on me.''

The former king is fondly remembered for the relative prosperity that marked his 40-year reign, the last stretch of peace the country has known. His rule saw the creation of a constitutional monarchy, and reforms that gave women the right to vote, work and get an education.

His return is likely to strengthen the hand of Mr Karzai, a fellow Pashtun and a distant cousin, whose power base is not as strong as that of Tajik and Uzbek members of his government, said Radha Kumar, a senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

His return might also allay some of the insecurities felt by Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan, who say they have been discriminated against after the removal of the Taliban, who were largely Pashtun, from power.

''They might feel he is there to be their voice, rectify the imbalances,'' she said.

''That's a very, very important message to be going out.''

''His majesty said it was a great day for Afghanistan, and he is very happy to be back,'' Mr Karzai's chief spokesman Yusuf Nuristani said. He said the former king planned to rest and would meet tribal elders today.