AFP, Kabul :
Kabul shopkeeper Haji Najimullah is furious with the Americans. Not for their long military intervention in Afghanistan, but the fact they are leaving, robbing his market stall of an important supplier.
Hundreds of stallholders in Kabul’s “Bush bazaar” have made a tidy living selling on “surplus” equipment and rations-much of it pilfered-from the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan.
But business has dwindled to half what it was a few years ago at the market, named after US president George W. Bush who ordered the invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
Traders are hoping that the election on Saturday to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai will bring stability to the country and boost their fortunes.
In the short-term, though, Najimullah admits his biggest worry is the withdrawal of US-led forces.
“Americans are the worst kind of people I have ever seen, they are leaving but they have stopped giving away the things they don’t need to Afghans-instead they burn them,” he raged, standing in his shop piled high with camouflage gear, military boots and combat knives.
“The Soviets were better-when they left they also left everything behind for Afghans to use.”
Fear of abandonment extends beyond the traders at Bush bazaar — the US- led mission has pumped billions of dollars into the Afghan economy and there are concerns of a dramatic financial crash when foreign forces leave.
Some Afghans predict a lack of jobs for the fast-growing population could become as big a threat to the country as the militants in the future, and generating economy activity will be one of the major challenges awaiting the new president.
A few years ago, shoppers at Bush bazaar could get their hands on all sorts of contraband.
Illicit pork and alcohol-forbidden in Muslim Afghanistan, along with sensitive military equipment such as sniper sights and night-vision goggles were all to be found in the narrow lanes during the market’s heyday.
It was the only place to buy packets of ready-made omelettes, jumbo-size bottles of American sauces and tins of Quaker Oats- all often “sourced” from the giant US military base at Bagram, 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Kabul.
