Kabul, Afghanistan ? A chuckle rang out from under the blue burqa as the mother of eight rifled through a mound of children’s sweatshirts. “Yes,” the woman said, “life is better today. I can go shopping by myself.”

An Afghan barber smiled as he recalled a shop full of customers waiting to shave their Taliban-mandated beards. The eyes of a janitor lit up as he described Northern Alliance fighters rolling into town.

“That’s when the music started,” said the janitor, Jan Mohammed.

On Nov. 13, 2001, the Taliban regime that had imposed a harsh brand of Islam fled Kabul as Northern Alliance fighters backed by a U.S.-led coalition poured in. Residents celebrated in the streets with music and laughter. Men flocked to barber shops to shave their long beards.

There were no official celebrations Monday, and no Afghans approached in street interviews knew it was the five-year anniversary. Many smiled when reminded of the Taliban’s fall, though some also lamented the deteriorating security in the country.

A high-level report released Sunday found that violence has risen fourfold from 2005 and that more than 3,700 people have died in 2006 because of insurgency-related violence.

Still, Pashtun, a 40-year-old who goes by one name, said she appreciates being able to go shopping by herself before winter settles in.

“The years the Taliban was in Kabul, I was like a prisoner,” she said, as other female shoppers nodded in agreement. “For five years I had to stay at home.”

Pashtun still wears the all-covering burqa favored by a majority of women in Kabul. She said it’s tradition for women in her family to wear it, but she has friends who now only wear a head scarf.

The Taliban forced all women to cover themselves and did not allow them to leave home without a male escort, meaning widows had to rely on other family to survive.

The regime also banned music and movies, didn’t allow kite flying and forced all men to wear long beards.

“I came to work that day and started shaving beards,” said Mohammed Hesa, a 22-year-old barber. “People were lined up outside the shop.”