The Kunduz debacle and its aftermath have crystallised a long suspected fact: the US has no clear policy about Afghanistan and the mess it created has no end in sight. President Barack Obama is in the autumn years of his presidency — a lame duck in the parlance of US politics — and must be concerned with the presidential legacy he will leave behind. Obama was elected almost seven years ago as the anti-Bush candidate who promised to end the two disastrous wars started by his president. Accordingly by 2011 the US withdrawal from Iraq was complete and Obama has hitherto been committed to completing a similar withdrawal, give or take a few thousand troops, from Afghanistan by the time the next president of the US is sworn in. However, immediately after the Iraqi withdrawal, the country the US left in a much worse shape than before it arrived was once again embroiled in a destructive insurgency and proved to be the breeding ground for Islamic State (IS). It seems that Obama has not learnt any lessons as he persists with promises made in the last decade and is bowing down to the pressures of a war weary public at home to prematurely exit Afghanistan and leave that unsettled country exposed to the threat of a rejuvenated Taliban insurgency and the destructive forces of IS with only a weak central government and ineffectual security forces providing the only line of defence. There are however signs that the US may be reluctantly embarking on a policy shift. Kunduz revealed that the Taliban is as big a threat as it was in its heyday, and that the Afghan forces cannot function without US support. The unfortunate hospital bombing also exposed the disastrous operating policy that governs rules of engagement and highlighted miscommunication amongst the coalition forces. Amidst all this, the US military’s top man in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, has in a significant departure from the norm, publicly disagreed with President Obama on the withdrawal policy. Appearing in front of the Senate Arms Committee, he testified that the conditions on the ground did not justify a drastic reduction in the number of troops present in Afghanistan. He instead called for a greater troop presence and diplomatically suggested that the Afghan forces would remain far from ready in the foreseeable future. He expressed confidence that the Obama administration would adopt one of five options he had presented and change course in Afghanistan. Afghan officials for their part are also desperately hoping that the withdrawal is delayed because they recognise the need of the US’s support against a resurgent Taliban. Obama should read the writing on the wall; his legacy will be doubly tarnished if he allows for yet another disastrous pullout. The US has a moral responsibility to atone for the original sin of invasion and it cannot leave the Afghan government to hang out to dry. *