As the battle for Marjah goes on, NATO is making plans for an even larger campaign in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city and a center of the Taliban insurgency. Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Marvin Weinbaum of the Middle East Institute about the strategy, and Deutsche Welle reports on the legacy of Russia's war in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, officials said that 27 people were killed last night in Uruzgan province, when NATO aircraft fired on what was believed to be a convoy of insurgents. It turned out that the people were all civilians, including women and children. For more on the civilian toll in Afghanistan, Martin Savidge interviews Alex Thier, and James Bays reports for Al Jazeera English.

This week, NATO launched a large operation to take the Taliban-controlled town of Marjah, as part of its new counter-insurgency strategy. NATO hopes to wipe out the Taliban presence in this part of Helmand province, clearing the way for the Afghan government to take control. Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Marvin Weinbaum, and James Bays of Al Jazeera English has more.

The idea of a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war gained new currency this week. In our weekly roundtable, James Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration, and Gideon Rose of Foreign Affairs magazine, join Daljit Dhaliwal to discuss the pitfalls and possibilities of negotiating with the Taliban.

As the U.S.-led coalition fights an increasingly tough war against the Taliban, there is new talk of reaching out to elements of the group. On Thursday, a conference in London will explore ways of bringing the Taliban into the government and how to transfer security responsibility to Afghan forces. There is growing hope that an agreement with the Taliban could end the war.