Mullah Mawli Mehdi, a former Taliban Commander turned rogue Afghan Warlord is claiming that his group has successfully thwarted a Taliban assault into his area of control.

The footage above was recorded today. It shows members of a splinter faction of the Taliban attacking Taliban forces that are moving into their area of control. Mehdi's group, who are all former members of the Taliban, are the first small group to break off from the larger Taliban faction, and if their story is to be believed they have successfully defeated a large Taliban incursion into their region.

According to Mehdi, 20 Taliban fighters were killed in this engagement and six humvees were destroyed. If this is true, we can expect to see other members of the Taliban splintering off to take control of their own individual districts, leaving the larger organization in control of less and less of Afghanistan as time passes.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Afghanistan, the National Resistance Front and the Afghan Freedom Front are still taking the fight directly to the weakening Taliban forces.