Kabul, Afghanistan ? Afghanistan’s deposed monarch, Mohammad Zaher Shah, today ended a 29-year exile in Italy and headed home to Afghanistan a historic return that many believe will help stabilize the war-ravaged country and unify its ethnic and tribal groups.

An Italian military aircraft carrying Zaher Shah and his entourage, Afghanistan’s interim leader Hamid Karzai and six Afghan Cabinet ministers took off just after midnight local time from the Pratica di Mare military airport outside Rome.

The king’s plane landed for a refueling stop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, about 9 a.m. local time (11 p.m. CDT Wednesday). He was met by Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, who accompanied the king and Karzai inside for breakfast.

The airport was completely sealed for the stopover, which was expected not to last long. The king was expected to land in Kabul around 11 a.m. (1:30 a.m. CDT).

Zaher Shah’s return is likely to strengthen the hand of Karzai, a fellow Pashtun and a distant cousin, whose power base isn’t 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.

Zaher Shah’s wife, Homaira, 86, is under constant medical care. She remained in Italy.