The United States has brokered a cease-fire between a renegade Afghan militia leader and the embattled governor of the western province of Herat, Washington's envoy to Kabul said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he was asked to help by both the Afghan government and Herat Governor Ismail Khan, whose forces were being pushed back by a renegade militia commander, Amanullah Khan.
"A few minutes ago there was an agreement between Governor Ismail Khan and Amanullah to cease fire at 4 o'clock this afternoon (1200 GMT) and to begin moving forces by Amanullah southwards towards Palmal Khan an area 30 km or more south of Adraskan," Khalilad told a news conference.
The envoy said he had spoken to both the governor and Amanullah Khan to broker a cease-fire in the factional fighting that has created another headache ahead of Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election on October 9.
"Our expectation is that the agreement that has been made will be honoured," Khalilzad said.
US military personnel accompanied Afghan National Army troops sent in to restore order in Herat in the past couple of days, and US "air assets" were monitoring the situation, the ambassador added.
Khalilzad declined to say whether any explicit threat of the use of force was made to Amanullah.
But the US envoy said he "made sure he (Amanullah) understood where we stood".
Last year, the United States used airpowers to quell unrest between factions in the same part of western Afghanistan.
Khalilzad said there had been significant casualties. At least 21 people were killed as Amanullah Khan's forces wrested control of a disused airbase at Shindand over the weekend.