President Barack Obama has said he has yet to decide whether to fire the top US general in Afghanistan, who showed “poor judgment” in a magazine article mocking top administration officials.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan and architect of Obama’s war strategy, was summoned to Washington to explain his “enormous mistake” directly to the President on Wednesday, the White House said.
Obama’s spokesman said: “All options were on the table,” but the President made clear he wanted to speak to McChrystal first.
“I think it is clear that the article in which he and his team appear showed poor judgment … but I also want to make sure I talk to him directly before I make any final decision,” said Obama, speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Two US officials said they expected McChrystal to offer his resignation and allow Obama to decide whether to accept it.
McChrystal has apologized for the article in Rolling Stone magazine, which quotes his aides calling one top Obama official a “clown” and another a “wounded animal.”
In the article “The Runaway General,” McChrystal himself makes belittling remarks about Vice President Joe Biden and the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
McChrystal’s departure would add to already growing uncertainty about the course of the nine-year-war just one year after his predecessor, General David McKiernan, was pushed out of the same job.
