mountaintop there. >> you see flag. >> reporter: it's been nearly a month since the taliban penetrated afghanistan's second largest city. since then these men haven't had a break. u.s. airstrikes only come in an emergency. rest of the time it's up to them to hold the line. "we feel a little bit weak without u.s. airstrikes and ground support and equipment," he says, "but this is our soil and we have to defend it." >> using heavy weapons. >> reporter: in a villa in the eastern part of the city kandahari lawmaker ghul ahmed khamin is hunkered down. in decades of war he says he's never seen the fighting this bad. >> millions of people in this city are waiting for when they will be killed, when someone will kill them, when their home will be destroyed, and it is happening every minute. >> reporter: just spell out for me here, the taliban is