by Rachel Morarjee
KABUL, Sep 11 (AFP) - Leading a donkey cart piled high with tomatoes through the streets of Kabul, Shah Mahmood is grateful for the presence of Americans in the war-torn country because now there's a market for his vegetables.
"It was a very big change for the life of farmers in Afghanistan because the Americans are giving a lot of dollars and under the Taliban nobody had money to buy my products," said the 32-year-old farmer with a donkey and cart full of tomatoes.
Although the September 11 attacks set in motion a chain of events which led to the fall of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in late 2001 after a US-led air campaign, for most Afghans the attacks on the skyscrapers in New York seem a world away.
Whereas newspapers in most countries ran big articles to commemorate the attacks in New York, the Afghan press was dominated by stories of about the country's October elections with barely a mention of the collapse of the twin towers.
The popular government-owned daily Anis did not run a single article about the September 11 attacks and only one out of 10 papers in the Afghan capital Kabul had a story about the attacks which devastated the United States.
"It's a not a big deal for your average Afghan even though it set in motion a chain of events which led to great change. It's a big deal for Americans," said a Western analyst in Kabul.
Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai chose the anniversary to unveil a hazy campaign platform for the upcoming parliamentary elections, but did not mention the attacks which brought him to power in Afghanistan following a US-led air campaign to oust the Taliban.
Instead, he talked about strengthening the overall security and government, balancing economic development and accelerating the reconstruction process.
Militants loyal to the ousted Islamic Taliban regime have stepped up a bombing campaign aimed at disrupting the country's October elections, launching rockets which injured two people over the Afghan capital late Thursday.
Those attacks following a bomb last month which killed three Americans and others at US security firm Dyncorp which provides security for President Hamid Karzai and trains the country's fledgling police force.
Although parts of northern Afghanistan are more prosperous since the fall of the Taliban -- largely as a result of the resurgent opium industry -- there is still widespread resentment at the presence of American troops.
"I am against the government of Karzai, against the presence of foreign forces here. Afghans don't want Americans in front of their house," said a man in his 30s who refused to give his name because he said he was not free to talk.
The US embassy and US-led military here held ceremonies to commemorate the September 11 attacks, but compared with a huge memorial service in Kabul stadium to remember late Afghan resistance hero Ahmad Shah Masood two days ago, the capital was quiet Saturday.
Masood was assassinated by two Al-Qaeda militants posing as cameramen two days ahead of the September 11 attacks.
The Taliban regime, which sheltered Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden, also imposed restrictions on Afghan women which left them under a state of virtual house arrest.
"The government of Karzai is better for us because now we can work, we can walk, we can be free," said a woman in 50s speaking from under a burqua.
Although women are no longer required by law to cover all of their bodies in an all-enveloping shroud, many women in Kabul continue to wear the burqua to protect them from unwanted male attention.