``This is merciless. Only Afghans are killed on both sides and Afghan property is being destroyed,'' said taxi driver Abdul Rahim, adding, ``Somebody should stop this. We have plenty of widows, orphans and handicapped people anyway''. Afghanistan has suffered huge losses in both human and material terms from the past 20 years of war, which began with the December 1979 Soviet invasion. The UN and foreign aid groups operating here are also suffering as the outside world and donor nations grow increasingly tired of Afghanistan's inability to settle its conflicts.

One pensioner said Kabul has thousands of widows and beggars and its infrastructure is in ruins while the ruling Taliban militia ``is trying to push its juggernaut all over the country''.

The purist Islamic militia, now in control of about 80 percent of thecountry, launched an offensive last Wednesday to crush opposition forces led by former defence minister Ahmad Shah Masood.

``I have heard the stories of back and forth movements for so many years. What we want is peace, not the fratricidal war,'' said Mohammad Aziz, a retired civil servant. Afghan leaders, he said, had yet to realise the futility of war.

``This is useless. Who now cares about those fighters who died in the previous hostilities between the communists and the mujahideen and then between the various factions?'' he said.

After a decade of battling mujahideen guerrillas the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan in February 1989. They left behind a Moscow-backed communist regime which was toppled by the mujahideen three years later. After seizing power, the mujihadeen factions turned on each other. The ethnic Pashtun Taliban emerged from the south and under a strict interpretation of Islamic law vowed to end the ``evil and corrupt forces'' of the mujahideen.

Last Wednesday the militialaunched its summer offensive against Masood's men. ``They are attacking each other like wolves, using all the strength they can muster,'' said Mohammad Asghar as a Taliban jet screeched overhead to bomb the frontlines 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of here.

Recent battles have been concentrated in the Shamali plains. Rocket strikes and artillery barrages are clearly audible to the capital's residents. The fighting erupted after United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi failed to persuade the Taliban to halt plans for its offensive and to continue peace talks. His visit followed a meeting in Tashkent of the Six-plus-Two group. The group comprises Afghanistan's neighbours - Iran, Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan - plus the United States and Russia. It was formed two years ago to try to find a peace formula. AFP