US President Barack Obama backs General Allen amid David Petraeus’s fallout

Despite reports of exchange of flirtatious emails between General John Allen and Jill Kelley, US President Barack Obama has supported the top commander in Afghanistan.

White House spokesman Jay Carney while speaking to the media said President Obama had faith in Gen John Allen, chosen to be the next NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) commander in Europe.

Harassment allegations by Kelley helped unmask an affair between CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell. Resultantly, Gen Petraeus resigned on Friday. Gen Allen says he has done nothing wrong.

Jay Carney in the first White House reaction since Gen Petraeus quit stated, “I can tell you that the president thinks very highly of Gen Allen and his service to his country, as well as the job he has done in Afghanistan.”

He further said “He (President Obama) has great confidence in the acting CIA director, the secretary of defence and the defence department to carry out the missions he has asked of them” The president was very happy with Gen Allen’s service and record, he added.

During the briefing, the spokesperson also asked reporters not to extrapolate too broadly about whether the cases involving Gen Petraeus and Gen Allen suggested a wider cultural problem within the US forces.

He noted, “He has great confidence in the acting CIA director, the secretary of defence and the defence department to carry out the missions he has asked of them.”

Earlier, the Pentagon said 20-30,000 pages of Gen Allen’s documents are being examined, with officials saying they contain potentially inappropriate emails between the General Allen and Kelley over the past two years.

An anonymous senior US official who has read the emails told media that the exchanges were relatively innocuous, even though they might be construed as unprofessional and flirty. The official said the emails included pet names such as sweetheart and dear, but did not suggest an affair or the exchange of classified information.

Gen Allen, 58, took over command of coalition forces in Afghanistan after David Petraeus moved to the CIA in 2011.

Currently commanding 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan, Gen Allen was due to face a confirmation hearing in the US Senate on Thursday for his new role as supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 14 2012. Filed under USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.