Pleas for US help fall on deaf ears

A Northern Alliance commander complained bitterly today that his request for American air strikes in support of his attack against a hard core of terrorist fighters 15 miles south of Kabul went ignored, forcing him to retreat after a withering counter-attack by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.

Haji Sher Allam, the Northern Alliance commander at the battle in Maidan Shah, said he had pleaded for air strikes.

"I was promised that there had been a positive response from the Americans but nothing came of it and when the Taliban attacked from another front which threatened to cut our supply routes we were forced into retreat. But we have called for reinforcements and expect to fight again tomorrow with or without the help of the Americans," Commander Allam said. Some fighters accuse the Taliban of using women as human shields during attacks on two villages at the bottom of a ridge which the Taliban took with an infantry assault today.

Commander Abdul Satar, a senior commander under Allam, said that when the Taliban launched their flanking manoeuvre "they pushed women in front of them, making it impossible for us to shoot back".

However, other fighters said they had been held back by women who they believe had simply been caught in the crossfire.

"Whether the Taliban used them as shields or not they didn't care that the women were there and launched a heavy attack from behind the women which forced us back," said Allah Wudein, Commander Allam's military secretary.

After the initial infantry assault by the Northern Alliance secured the two ridges overlooking the

Kandahar road, it became clear they were in a trap. Fighters who had promised to stay out of the battle to spare civilian lives, opened fire on them from behind - and snipers in camouflaged foxholes pinned down Northern commanders in a shallow ditch.

Running low on ammunition and shocked by the stiff resistance, the Northern Alliance troops pulled back into Maidan Shah, cursing foreigners and demanding to know why there was no American air support at such a vital crossroads to Kandahar, Herat in the far west, and Mazar-i-Sharif in the north.

One furious fighter acted as if I was responsible for American strategy. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you,? he said, shaking the stump of a hand lost in earlier combat and waving his rifle butt close to my head.

By lunchtime the Northern Alliance had pulled most of their heavy weapons back for re-fuelling as their infantry sought cover from an expected Taliban counter-attack.