reporter: up on the roof major habibulah shaheen wants to show us something. you can actually see the taliban flag just over on the 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
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
changes. the people see these changes. but we also have to produce the most critical issue which is security. and security is the key. when i was in kandahar i saw all of these police checkpoints being set up around kandahar city, police substations within the city, obviously the military operations around there, all this work being done on law and order and security. but what happens when those police arrest people? right now kandahar has on the books authorization for something like 87 judges. they ve only got nine judges actually working. so you ve got this security thing happening and they re way underpaid. and they re in danger. so you have the security thing happening but you don t have civilian government coming in behind it and so if you are a kandahari civilian who has some dispute you want resolved, a land dispute, live stock or something, the taliban is frankly offering a much better service. they have a reputation for less corruption and there isn t the kind of wait
changes. the people see these changes. but we also have to produce the most critical issue which is security. and security is the key. when i was in kandahar i saw all of these police checkpoints being set up around kandahar city, police substations within the city, obviously the military operations around there, all this work being done on law and order and security. but what happens when those police arrest people? right now kandahar has on the books authorization for something like 87 judges. they ve only got nine judges actually working. so you ve got this security thing happening and they re way underpaid. and they re in danger. so you have the security thing happening but you don t have civilian government coming in behind it and so if you are a kandahari civilian who has some dispute you want resolved, a land dispute, live stock or something, the taliban is frankly offering a much better service. they have a reputation for less corruption and there isn t the kind of wait