Nine years ago, just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States led an aerial bombardment on Afghanistan, beginning the longest war in US history and unleashing events that would topple a regime and change the direction of the nation.

But this week, even as the Karzai government began secret talks with the Taliban and other antigovernment forces, after two presidential elections and billions of U.S. investment in fighting and reconstruction, most Afghans see no end to the war, reports The Christian Science Monitor. Amid ongoing violence, it remains difficult for most people here to reconcile what this anniversary means for their country.

“The Afghan civilians used to think of this anniversary as a day that they got their freedom from a cruel government. But day by day, as the Taliban has gotten more control in the country, the people have stopped believing that,” says Mohammad Saber Fahim, an Afghan journalist.

Like most Afghans, Abdul Wasy still remembers where he was when he heard that the Americans had started bombing his country nine years ago. He was nine years old, and rather than get the news over the radio, he found out about the strikes when two bombs landed close enough to his home that, he says, they shook the earth.

When he realized he would be safe, he says that he and his family were elated. “We thought that we were released from the dark regime of the Taliban,” he says.

But now, Mr. Wasy says, things aren’t so black and white. “In the Taliban regime, it was better. We were safe. Now, every day, you hear on the news about innocent people getting killed in attacks. … In nine years, more than 40 countries could not bring security. And now we are all feeling hopeless.”

Read the entire story at csmonitor.com