1 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A recently formed Islamic faction said Saturday its latest military victory had put it in a position to take a key town only 30 kilometers (18 miles) outside Kabul, the war-battered capital.
2 The Taliban movement has scored a series of battlefield wins that have further complicated peace efforts in Afghanistan, where 10 Islamic groups already are locked in a bitter feud for control of Kabul.
3 The Taliban, made up of fundamentalist religious students turned guerrilla fighters, notched its latest victory in fighting Thursday and Friday and was nearing Maidan Shahr, a strategic town 30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of Kabul.
4 'We are going to Kabul,' claimed Mullah Masher, a Taliban leader who spoke to an Associated Press reporter in Dashti, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Maidan Shahr.
5 Masher said his movement intended to keep moving along the main highway, which would take them to Maidan Shahr, and if they succeed, on to Kabul.
6 Maidan Shahr remains in the hands of Hezb-e-Islami, the main opposition group in the multi-sided Afghan conflict. However, the Taliban have scored a number of victories against Hezb-e-Islami in recent weeks.
7 A United Nations mission says it has been making progress toward the establishment of a multiparty interim government. But the Taliban has not allied itself with any other faction and it's unclear what role the group will play.
8 'We are not aligned,' said Sardar Ahmed, a Taliban spokesman in Pakistan. 'We are against the criminals and the corrupt people in all the parties. We are a reform movement.'
9 The group was unknown until several months ago. It began its dramatic rise by capturing the southern city of Kandahar in November and have been advancing northward toward Kabul, capturing several provinces along the way.
10 Many Taliban members grew up in refugee camps in Pakistan and were educated at religious schools there.
11 It's widely rumored that Pakistan is the group's main backer. However, Pakistan denies the charge, claiming it is neutral in the Afghan war.
12 The advancing Taliban army is believed to have fewer than 2,000 men in the Maidan Shahr area. But the fighters are fresh compared to their war-weary opponents who have been fighting for a decade or more.
13 It's unlikely that the group could take Kabul by storm. President Burhanuddin Rabbani's forces and his allies control most of the city, though they are largely surrounded by their opponents.
14 Afghanistan's Islamic factions drove out the Soviet army in 1989 and then toppled a Communist government in 1992. The factions have been fighting among themselves for the past three years, leaving more than 20,000 dead in Kabul and destroying much of the city.

KABUL , Afghanistan ( AP ) - A recently formed Islamic faction said Saturday its latest military victory had put it in a position to take a key town only 30 kilometers ( 18 miles ) outside Kabul , the war - battered capital .
war - battered
Why is this capital battered with war? What caused it?