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Top U.S. General Ordered To Explain White House Criticism
22.06.2010 05:56
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has been ordered to appear at the White House on June 23 to explain his searing criticism of top Obama administration officials.
The comments, by McChrystal and some of his staff members, appear in the current issue of "Rolling Stone" magazine, which is due to hit newsstands on June 25. The article was posted online on June 22.
In the article, titled "The Runaway General," McChrystal makes a sarcastic comment about Vice President Joe Biden, known as a skeptic of McChrystal's strategy for the Afghan conflict.
The piece also contains dismissive and sarcastic comments by McChrystal and staff members about the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, and national security adviser James Jones.
At one point, McChrystal tells the reporter that at his first meeting with President Barack Obama, the president came in unprepared.
McChrystal has apologized and called the article "a mistake reflecting poor judgment” that “should have never happened."
But the magazine’s executive editor said on June 22 that the general had read the feature before it was printed and had no objections to the content or his quotes.
Speaking to the MSNBC cable news channel, Eric Bates said McChrystal had "absolutely not" asked to clarify or correct any statements he had made.
A NATO spokesman, James Apparthurai, has described the flap as "unfortunate" but said Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had full confidence in McChrystal.
The White House said on June 22 that McChrystal made an "enormous mistake" in his remarks to the magazine.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "Without a doubt, General McChrystal, as [U.S. Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates has said, has made an enormous mistake, a mistake that he will get a chance to talk about and answer tomorrow both to officials in the Pentagon and to the commander-in-chief."
10 Troops Killed
The controversy is just one of several blows in the last 24 hours to the international effort in Afghanistan. Ten foreign troops have been killed, a new report says the U.S. military is indirectly funding the Afghan insurgency through its outsourcing of security on the supply chain, and the British special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan has announced he will take leave over an extended summer break.
Britain's Foreign Office declined to say why Sherard Cowper-Coles is leaving, or to what role he will return.
But Cowper-Coles has advocated that militant groups in Afghanistan need to be included in discussions about the future direction of the country. The diplomat is reported to have had serious disagreements with senior NATO and U.S. officials over his approach.
News of his departure came as 10 foreign troops were reported killed in a series of militant attacks and a helicopter crash.
Reports said the June 21 deaths, including five U.S. soldiers, three Australians, and one Canadian, take to 65 the number of NATO soldiers reported killed this month in Afghanistan, and to 285 the number killed so far this year.
It was the second time this month that 10 service members have been killed in a single day.
British Troop Withdrawal Pledge
Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the 300th British fatality in Afghanistan since operations began in late 2001. The soldier died in a hospital in Britain on June 20 after being injured in a blast in the southern province of Helmand earlier this month.
The news prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge to withdraw troops as soon as Afghanistan can handle its own security.
"We are paying a high price for keeping our country safe, for making our world a safer place and we should keep asking why we're there and how long we must be there," Cameron said.
"And the truth is that we're there because the Afghans are not yet ready to keep their own country safe and to keep terrorists and terrorist training camps out of their country. That's why we have to be there but as soon as they're able to take care and take security for their own country -- that is when we can leave."
In Washington, a minor furor has erupted over a congressional report released late on June 21 that says the U.S. military is indirectly funding the Afghan insurgency through hiring private companies to ensure safe passage of its supply convoys throughout the country.
The document said the military has been giving tens of millions of dollars to Afghan security firms who are channeling the money to warlords, corrupt public officials, and the Taliban.
A U.S. congressional committee is expected to hear evidence on the investigation from officials at the U.S. Department of Defense later on June 22.
These latest developments came ahead of important international talks next month in Kabul, hosted by President Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Taliban has so far rejected a plan drawn up at a Kabul peace meeting earlier this month to offer jobs and money to those who lay down arms.
The U.S. military has warned that casualties are expected to mount as foreign forces build up their campaign to oust militants from the southern province of Kandahar.
Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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