When a shopkeeper, who was selling hand-woven images of planes striking the World Trade Center, in Kabul was asked about the attack, he knew nothing much about it.
Ten years after the US invaded Afghanistan to eliminate al-Qaeda following the 9/11 terror attacks, many Afghans are not only ignorant about the dreaded attack, but also suspicious about the presence of US troops in the country.
When a shopkeeper, who was selling hand-woven images of planes striking the World Trade Center, in Kabul was asked about the attack, he knew nothing much about it, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
He said he did not really know where the image on them comes from or what September 11 is.
"It's just an item in our shop that we sell to Americans and Europeans," he said.
On being asked if he knew anything about September 11, 2001, he changedthe subject to a drought in northwest Afghanistan. Then, his teenage son interrupted to remind him about Osama bin Laden.
Then, the shopkeeper said: "Yes, I think it's from bin Laden. We were refugees in Pakistan at that time, and I had to take care of my family.... I was too busy to pay attention to the political events in the news."
A decade after the 9/11 terror attacks, these shopkeepers are among many Afghans who say they have heard almost nothing about the attacks that led to the fall of the Taliban government, leading to ten years of foreign military presence in his country.
As US policymakers debate keeping troops in Afghanistan till 2024, many Afghans are doubtful about America’s ability to effectively accomplish its goals here in the coming years.
"The foreigners absolutely did not communicate.... They only spoke with bombs and guns. They alienated every single human in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq to their causes. Nobody believes in their cause now," one said.
Although there has been significant development in Afghanistan during the past ten years, much of the country remains cut off from the recent wave of progress.
"They know why they are here. I don't know the reason why they are here. You should ask them why they are here, to make peace or to destroy Afghanistan. I don't know why," an Afghan added.
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