Now the only food reaching the city comes from the Kabul area and what can be trucked in from the north, mainly from the Soviet Union.

In the Kabul area, Soviet advisers have helped the Government to build a triple ring of defenses, with heavy artillery and fortified gun emplacements.

One diplomat said his embassy had recorded an exchange of artillery fire in the Kabul area this afternoon.

Previous Afghan formations in the Kabul area included the Central Army Corps, from at least 1978 through the 1990s.

The two major airfields for defense of the ring road are at Bagram in the Kabul area and Farah in the west.

The hostages were thought to have been moved to the region close to the Pakistani border from the Kabul area, he said.

When Abdul Haq, a leading commander in the Kabul area, stepped on a mine last October, he was taken to the clinic for treatment.

Babris are originally part of a tribe that migrated from the Kabul area of modern-day Afghanistan.

There are believed to be 12 Americans in the Kabul area working for the International Assistance Mission, a medical relief organization, diplomats said.

State Department officials said they believe that the new bombing is aimed at protecting the 30,000 troops and support personnel who are in defensive positions in the Kabul area.