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If you want more perspective on Afghanistan, we have another choice that goes beyond the network talk shows: KUOW’s Weekday with Steve Scher. Today, Scher will talk about the shift in Afghan policy and its ramifications.

The guest list includes Todd Zwilich, The Takeaway’s Washington correspondent; Alex Their, director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the US Institute of Peace; and Larry Goodson, a South Asia specialist at the US Army War College.

Listen live or on-demand.

In addition to the network shows, we’re highlighting a few notable local talk shows that will focus on Afghanistan today. The first is MPR’s Midmorning with Kerri Miller.

Miller’s guest list for the discussion includes the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon; and Christine Fair, Assistant professor in the security studies department at Georgetown University.

Listen live or on-demand.

Here’s a report from David Chater of Aljazeera English.

You can also listen to the address.

President Obama will address the nation tonight from the United States Military Academy at West Point, as he announces his decision on future American troop levels in Afghanistan.

NPR News will have live coverage beginning at 8pm ET. Michele Norris will host, and a number of NPR reporters will be on hand to analyze: White House correspondent Don Gonyea, NPR Pentagon reporter Tom Bowman, Capitol Hill correspondent David Welna, and National correspondent Mara Liasson.

We expect most NPR News stations will carry this address live, but you can also hear it live at npr.org or on the NPR iPhone app.

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He pairs President Bush’s address to graduating cadets at West Point on June 1, 2002 with President Obama’s address there tonight, announcing an increase in troop deployment.

This is a good scene-setting piece – recommended.

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You should carve out some time in your schedule either this morning (while it’s live) or later to check out WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. Thomas Friedman headlines the show today, as he discusses Afghanistan, and other issues including climate change and health care.

We expect a smart exchange.

Listen live or on-demand.

Malalai Joya was born in Afghanistan, and returned from living in exile in 1998. In 2005, she was elected to the Afghan Parliament. But in 2007, she was suspended from Parliament because she began denouncing the warlords who were serving with her.

Joya has written A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice. In it, she argues that democracy in Afghanistan is a sham (a view many agree with, post-election), and she also argues that US involvement is making the situation worse.

Today on KUOW’s Weekday, Joya will talk to host Steve Scher about Afghanistan, her story, and the future of the US presence in the country.

Listen live or on-demand.

Hillier has never been shy about the press, and he openly expressed his frustrations with funding for the troops, bureaucratic infighting, and the lack of progress in Afghanistan.

Hillier has written a new memoir, A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War. In this interview on CBC Radio One’s The Current, Anna Maria Tremonti, he talks about the obstacles to progress.

Listen to the interview.

In this conversation recorded Sunday in Kabul, Karzai talks with The Newshour’s Margaret Warner about the recent election, corruption, and his views on a potential revision in US military strategy in the region.

There’s a full transcript of the interview here.

On The Newshour, Margaret Warner reports from Afghanistan on the sudden end to the vote controversy with the withdrawal of Abdullah Abdullah.

Here’s another on-the-scene report from Jonah Hull of Al Jazeera English.

On NPR’s Morning Edition today, Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad told Renee Montagne that Karzai needs to fight corruption and establish a more effective government.

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In this interview on The Newshour, he talks about what he discovered on the ground, and he discusses his successful effort to get Afghan President Hamid Karzai to commit to a runoff election. This is a meaty 11 minutes.

You can also listen to the Kerry interview or read the transcript.

Tuesday, you may have heard a short, but smart discussion between NPR’s Steve Inskeep and Goldstein on Morning Edition. (Listen)

We heard it and wanted more. Here’s a longer interview with Gordon Goldstein from WNYC’s Leonard Lopate yesterday. Goldstein talks about the decision-making and strategies that led the US into Vietnam, and the lessons for the Obama administration in Afghanistan.

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Sanger talked to WNYC’s Brian Lehrer on Monday about the administration’s choices as it faces a growing nuclear threat from Iran, and about the difficult decisions ahead in Afghanistan.

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Listen live at 10am ET/7am PT

On Point will now devote its first hour this morning to the UN’s sacking of Peter Galbraith, its envoy to Afghanistan.

Galbraith appears to have run afoul of the UN by calling for a complete recount of the recent election votes.

Listen live or on-demand.

Apparently, there are a lot of ordinary folks in Afghanistan who trade in their desk jobs after a long week, and spend the weekend as jihadists, hanging out with the Taliban.

Yesterday on The Takeaway, John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee chatted with BBC correspondent Kate Clark about these weekend warriors and how it’s making it much harder for coalition forces trying to avoid civilian casualties.

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This is the story of an Afghan national who worked as a translator for coalition forces in Afghanistan. He fled to Canada 18 months ago after he started getting death threats from the Taliban for doing his job.

Amid (not his real name) told his story on The Current on CBC Radio One.

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On Tuesday, in the eastern part of the country, Taliban militants and suicide bombers launched an attack that killed 14 soldiers.

WorldFocus host Martin Savidge talked to Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, about the attacks were carried out, and the security situation in Afghanistan.

Listen live at 12pm ET/9am PT

It’s been a tough year in Afghanistan, with increasing attacks and continuing political turmoil. KUOW’s Weekday brings together a panel that includes John Dempsey from the Kabul office of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and reporter Aunohita Mojumdar, to assess the current situation. We expect this in-depth hour on Afghanistan will be excellent.

Listen live or on-demand.