NATO Setbacks in Afghanistan as US Summons Commander, UK Fires Envoy

by Patrick Falby Patrick Falby – 36 mins ago

KABUL (AFP) –

NATO faced major setbacks in Afghanistan Tuesday as the White House summoned US General Stanley McChrystal to explain pointed criticism of the president and senior advisers in a magazine interview.

In an extraordinary article published in Rolling Stone, the commander of the 142,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan was quoted as denouncing the US envoy in Kabul while his aides dismissed President Barack Obama and mocked his deputy.

Frictions are emerging in the more than 40-nation alliance that is trying to put down a nearly nine-year Taliban resistance to NATO forces, with the British special envoy taking extended leave and casualties mounting.

McChrystal, a widely respected former special operations chief, has enjoyed mostly sympathetic US media coverage since he took over the NATO-led force last year with a mandate from Obama to launch a major anti-insurgency offensive.

But the article appeared to catch him and his staff in unguarded moments, forcing a swift apology from McChrystal.

"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened," he said in a statement. "I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team."

In the Rolling Stone profile, McChrystal joked sarcastically about preparing to answer a question referring to Vice President Joe Biden, known as a sceptic of the commander's strategy of hurling thousands more troops into the fray.

He imagined ways of "dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner" and told the magazine that he felt "betrayed" by the US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, in a White House debate over war strategy last year.

Referring to a leaked internal memo from Eikenberry that questioned McChrystal's request for more troops, the commander suggested the ambassador had tried to protect himself for history's sake.

A top US official told AFP that McChrystal had been ordered to attend a meeting on Wednesday "to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes in the piece about his colleagues".

McChrystal normally appears at the monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan via secure satellite teleconference, but has this time been told to attend "in person", the official said.

Attending a ceremony at the Afghan national military academy on Tuesday, Eikenberry refused to comment when one Afghan journalist repeatedly asked him "Mr Ambassador are you still friends with General McChrystal?"

In Brussels, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen indicated support for the US commander, expressing full confidence in McChystal and his strategy, according to a spokesman.

Further turmoil emerged as Britain announced its special envoy to Afghanistan was taking "extended leave", amid reports he clashed with military officials over strategy just a month ahead of a crucial international conference in Kabul.

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that Sherard Cowper-Coles was on leave from his post, which also covers Pakistan.

The Guardian newspaper reported that he was convinced the military-focused counter-insurgency effort was headed for failure and wanted talks with Taliban fighters to be a priority.

On Monday, 10 NATO troops were killed in attacks and a helicopter crash in Afghanistan -- the second time this month that 10 troops have been killed in a single day and bringing the death toll to 285 so far this year.

The mounting toll is unwelcome news in Western capitals where political leaders are under mounting pressure from a public unwilling to tolerate the cost of a far-away and seemingly open-ended war.

In further unrest Tuesday, the health director of northern Kunduz province was killed when a bomb exploded at his private clinic, also wounding two children and a cleaner, police said.

Much of southern Afghanistan is blighted by the Taliban insurgency, now in its deadliest phase since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the hardline Islamist regime and installed a Western-backed administration led by Hamid Karzai.

The US military has warned that casualties will inevitably mount as foreign forces build up their campaign to oust the militants from Kandahar, a hotbed of bombings, assassinations and lawlessness.

Obama's troop surge -- the brainchild of McChrystal -- will see NATO and US numbers peak at 150,000 later this year before a drawdown scheduled to start next year.

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