Washington, June 23: The top US military commander in Afghanistan has left the White House after meeting President Barack Obama to explain his criticism of leading officials.
 Gen Stanley McChrystal held a one-on-one meeting with Obama which lasted about 30 minutes. It is unclear whether or not he still retains his position in the military. Gen McChrystal had agreed with Obama that the statements in Rolling Stone magazine showed “poor judgement”.
 Gen McChrystal was also due to attend the monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan and face some of those he and his aides criticised.
 It is unclear whether he will return for this 1535 GMT meeting.
 Afghan President Hamid Karzai has again indicated he does not want Gen McChrystal replaced.
‘ENORMOUS MISTAKE’
 Gen McChrystal arrived back in Washington in the early hours local time.
 The Afghanistan-Pakistan meeting is scheduled for late morning Washington time and it is not clear whether the one-to-one meeting will be before or after that.
 The BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Washington says Gen McChrystal has been meeting Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
 Gen McChrystal quickly apologised for the magazine article, The Runaway General, written by Michael Hastings and due out on Friday, extending his “sincerest apology” and saying it showed a lack of integrity.
 “It was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and should never have happened,” he said.
 President Obama said on Tuesday he wanted to talk with the general in person before deciding what action to take.
 US media reports said Gen McChrystal had submitted his resignation, but it was up to the president to decide whether to accept it. There has been no official comment on the reports.
 White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president was “angry” and that Gen McChrystal had made “an enormous mistake”.
 Mr Gibbs said “all options were on the table” regarding the fate of the general and wondered “what in the world was he thinking?”
 Some experts suggest Mr Gibbs’s harsh words were to make the president look tough and give him the option of keeping the general on after a warning.
 However, some lawmakers have called for Gen McChrystal to quit.
 Our correspondent, Kim Ghattas, says President Obama will have to choose between continuity in leadership in Afghanistan at a crucial time, and a unified leadership which shows him respect as commander-in-chief. At the White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gen McChrystal is expected to face: Joe Biden. Gen McChrystal had mocked the vice-president when asked a question about him. “Are you asking about Vice-President Biden? Who’s that?” Karl Eikenberry. Gen McChrystal said he felt “betrayed” by the US ambassador to Kabul during the long 2009 White House debate on troop requests for Afghanistan James Jones. One of Gen McChrystal’s aides says the national security adviser is a “clown stuck in 1985”. Richard Holbrooke. Gen McChrystal says of an e-mail from the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan: “Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke... I don’t even want to open it”
 The article also appeared to be critical of the president himself.
 Referring to a key Oval Office meeting with Mr Obama a year ago, an aide of Gen McChrystal says it was “a 10-minute photo-op”.
 “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was... he didn’t seem very engaged. The boss was pretty disappointed,” the aide says.
 In his first comments on the issue on Tuesday, President Obama said: “I think it’s clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed... poor judgement.”
(COURTESY: BBC)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST