January has been bloody in the Afghan capital Kabul, where more than 130 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in a series of attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group. Suicide bombers have targeted not only security forces but also a hotel, and a crowded shopping street. Does this latest spike in violence mean their tactics have changed, and if so why? The US has recently committed a few more troops to Afghanistan, but after 16 years of fighting, is a military solution credible? Is it time, once and for all, to make peace with the Taliban? At what price, to whom? Does any answer inevitably depend on Pakistan? On Newshour Extra this week Razia Iqbal and a panel of experts discuss the war in Afghanistan and the prospects for peace.

(Photo: an Afghan man holds a wounded child, after a car bomb exploded near the old Interior Ministry building in Kabul on January 27, 2018. Credit: Getty Images)