Groups of Taleban militiamen in Afghanistan have fired on one another in open street battles in the first sign of a serious breakdown of discipline within the regime, according to the United Nations in Pakistan.
According to the Office of the UN Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, law and order in parts of Afghanistan is beginning to break down in ways which would have been unthinkable a month ago.
In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, close to the front line of the civil war against the opposition Northern Alliance, rogue Taleban groups raided a local UN office on Saturday, beat up its Taleban guards and exchanged gunfire with Taleban policemen who came to its protection.
In the city of Maimana in the northwest of the country, as well as in Mazar-i-Sharif, de-mining organisations have had their vehicles and equipment stolen. Taleban commanders in other parts of the country have forcibly attempted to billet their troops in premises owned by aid agencies, in an apparent attempt to deter attack by increasing the risk to civilian life.
The reports suggest that the bombing is indeed corroding the Taleban's cohesion and esprit de corps. But they also hint at the kind of violent anarchy into which Afghanistan could quickly sink, if the bombing eventually destroys the Taleban as an organisation.
The UN's informants also report that civilians, including local UN aid workers, continue to be killed and injured by stray bombs like the ones that killed scores or even hundred in villages eastern Afghanistan last week.
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Map: Opposing forces in the war against terror