The anniversary itself was muted in Afghanistan, where US and Nato troops organised only small ceremonies to commemorate the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the worst terror strike on US soil.
Soldiers sang the US national anthem and said prayers on behalf of the victims, said an AFP photographer who attended one of the commemorations.
On the eve of the anniversary, a rocket fired by insurgents on the largest US base in Afghanistan destroyed a helicopter, killing three Afghan intelligence agents, officials said.
On the day itself, a suicide bomber killed a local Afghan police commander and four civilians in a shop in a remote town near the border with Turkmenistan.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suicide attack, but in a statement posted online ahead of the anniversary, the Taliban said the United States "is facing utter defeat in Afghanistan militarily, politically, economically and in all other facets".
The Taliban said the war had "no legal or ethical" basis and that Afghans had "no hand" in what happened on September 11, 2001, and that despite the billions spent on the conflict "no American is safe in any society today".
The United States led international military action to bring down the Taliban regime in October 2001 because it refused to give up al Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden, who ultimately escaped into Pakistan, where he was shot dead by US forces in May 2011.
A report from a British think-tank suggested this week that the Taliban are open to a ceasefire and a political agreement that could lead to a US military presence in Afghanistan until 2024.
The report from the Royal United Services Institute claims to reveal an emerging, pragmatic consensus among the Taliban leadership, who are willing to take part in peace negotiations in exchange for political leverage after 2014.
The report said that so far no Taliban leader has endorsed a possible ceasefire in public.
On Tuesday, a Taliban spokesman flatly denied that it was ready for talks.
"We'll never resort to talks or any deal that is against the interests of the Afghan people," Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP from an undisclosed location.
The Taliban had been in contact with US officials in Qatar about a possible prisoner swap earlier this year, but they suspended the talks in March.
In its 9/11 anniversary statement, it called on Americans and their allies "to halt shedding the blood of the oppressed Afghans" and vowed to continue its armed struggle.
The war in Afghanistan has steadily lost popular support in the United States.
A growing majority of Americans oppose the US military presence in Afghanistan and support Nato's plan to withdraw most combat forces by the end of 2014.
More than 2,000 US troops have been killed in the war and 77,000 are stationed in Afghanistan.
COMMENTS (10)
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9/11 definitely marked a turning point in the world’s perception of terrorism, but the war on terror began long before. Al-Qaeda terrorists had been intent on attacking U.S. interests for decades: we cannot forget the embassy attacks in Kenya and Nigeria, the attacks on the al-Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia, and the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. After the 9/11 attacks that claimed more than 3,000 innocent lives, we were left with no choice but to launch a coordinated counterterrorism campaign against Al-Qaeda, an enemy hiding and training at that time in the remote areas of Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, then the dominant power in Afghanistan. It has been eleven years since the U.S. began in earnest a campaign against an elusive enemy. Since the beginning of that campaign in Afghanistan, the U.S., the international community and Afghan forces have overthrown the Taliban, scattered Al-Qaeda, killed and captured many terrorist leaders, to include Osama bin Laden, and put Afghanistan on the path to security, stability and prosperity. Infrastructure has been rebuilt. Roads, bridges, schools and clinics have been constructed. NATO forces have trained a disciplined Afghan force that is increasingly capable of protecting its citizens and its borders from internal and external terrorist threats. The fight isn’t over; there’s plenty of work to be done to overcome the difficult challenges that remain. But can all of that’s been accomplished rightly be called defeat? I don’t think so.
War is never easy, but it is sometimes necessary. This war is necessary. Terrorism has not only affected America, but has claimed the lives of innocents in the UK, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and many other countries. For this reason, over seventy nations have joined the fight against terrorism, battling an enemy who kills without remorse.
Capt. Joseph Kreidel DET-United States Central Command www.centcom.mil/ur
@Azi
How abt US comes to modern age and stop its war mongering and state terrorism?
Taliban provided support and protection for Al Qaeda and OBL -- then claim they had no hand in 9/11? There is a lesson to be learned here and Pakistan should take note -- you can't aid and abet terrorist and then absolve yourselves from the crimes those terrorist commit.
I dont understand these people who keep saying US was defeated in Afghanistan. While it is true that one can say they didn't win, they didn't get defeated either. To be honest, it depends on what their real objective was. Taliban now hide like rats in caves and are hunted like dogs everyday, who is the one defeated here?
Its time for Taliban to throw down their soviet era weapons and transition into the modern age, not to acquire modern weapons but knowledge and education. Build their country into an economic force without which world cannot live. Stop brainwashing kids to go do your dirty work, let them prosper in life and have families. Let them live as a happy human being.
we will never know what is the truth in 911 but we all know what has US done in Iraq and Afghanistan and all over the world directly and indirectly.
14 to 24 , my god 10 year . No the task has to be finalised within next two years and total withdrawl by 2020 .
You call it the defeat of USA but have you ever realised what miseries your action has brought to wole world and specially to Pakistan and area around this country. On what then you are taunting?
Us has “utter defeat” in Afghanistan... So true...