The US military has acknowledged it may have been responsible for an air strike that hit a hospital in Kunduz killing several people and injuring dozens more.
 
Afghan forces - backed by American air power - have been trying to push out Taliban fighters from the city - after the armed group seized it in less than 24 hours.
 
And it is that success that is worrying the Afghan government and its Western sponsors.
 
It also has echoes of recent battles in Iraq, where another US-trained army collapsed in combat despite large support from Washington.
 
So has the Obama administration's unwillingness to keep boots on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq
resulted in power vacuums allowing armed groups to grow in strength?