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With the new year barely begun, violence in Afghanistan has exploded. Just this morning a blast in Nangahar province killed four Afghan children and 3 US soldiers, and wounded dozens. Yesterday the US and NATO were accused by the Afghan government of killing 7 civilians including 3 children in an air strike in Helmand province. The accusation comes on the heels of another charge made a week earlier in Kunar Province where, during a night time raid, US troops allegedly shot and killed ten civilians including 8 young boys. Hundreds of Afghans including university students protested against the US in Kabul and Jalalabad on Monday. And, as if this wasn’t enough bad news for the US war effort, on Sunday reports came in of 8 people being killed at a CIA base by a suicide bomber who infiltrated the camp. The new year was also marked with the deaths of four US soldiers from a roadside bomb, starting off the year’s bloody tally. What does the violence bode for President Obama’s recently announced strategy of troop escalation in Afghanistan?

GUEST: Reese Erlich, Freelance foreign correspondent, who has covered the Middle East for 23 years and is the author of three books. His fourth, “Conversations with Terrorists,” will be published in September 2010.