Claims by a former soldier that Dutch helicopters refused to come to the aid of Australian soldiers after they had been attacked by the Taliban are not in line with Dutch recollections of the event, a defence ministry spokesman told the Telegraaf on Friday.

The Herald Sun newspaper on Friday quotes from a book by ex-SAS soldier Rob Maylor, who says the Dutch wouldn’t open fire on the Taliban or bring their helicopters down from a safe height after the attack.
The Apache helicopter was involved in leading three evacuations of the wounded by another helicopter, the spokesman said.
‘The Apache helicopter’s priority is to safely bring out the wounded, not the ground fight,’ the spokesman told the Telegraaf.
Later, Australian troops had asked for air support but the incident was over when the Apache arrived, the spokesman said. At that moment, the Taliban and ISAF forces were several kilometres apart and the troops on the ground did not ask for firepower.