PRESIDENT BARACK Obama yesterday moved swiftly and decisively to sack Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of 142,000 US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, replacing him with America’s best known and most respected army officer, the head of US Central Command, Gen David Petraeus.
The necessity of preserving civilian control over the military was the principal reason, cited twice by the president in his announcement in the Rose Garden.
On Tuesday, a profile of Gen McChrystal published by Rolling Stone magazine revealed the testosterone-charged, expletive-filled environment in which the general and his team worked, with considerable disdain for their civilian bosses.
“I don’t make this decision based on any difference in policy with Gen McChrystal, as we are in full agreement about our strategy,” Mr Obama said. “Nor do I make this decision out of any sense of personal insult . . . It saddens me to lose the service of a soldier I’ve come to respect and admire.” At their first meeting, shortly after Mr Obama took office, Gen McChrystal thought the president looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” in the presence of top military brass, Rolling Stone reported. An aide to Gen McChrystal told the magazine the general was “pretty disappointed” with his meeting with the president after he appointed him to lead US forces in Afghanistan.
After praising Gen McChrystal yesterday, Mr Obama said “the war is bigger than any one man or woman” and that “the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general”.
Two other factors contributed to the decision to fire Gen McChrystal. It would have been extremely difficult for the general to work with key officials whom he derided in Rolling Stone. And it was important for Mr Obama not to appear weak or indecisive.
Gen McChrystal had travelled overnight to meet defence secretary Robert Gates, before a half-hour, one-on-one conversation with the president. He was not invited to the subsequent meeting of the national security team on Afghanistan, four of whose members he had insulted in the magazine article. CNN reported that Gen McChrystal will not even be allowed to return to Afghanistan to fetch his belongings.
The president has been criticised for tolerating division on Afghan policy for too long. He sought to amend that yesterday. “This mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team,” he said.
“I don’t think we can sustain that unity of effort or achieve our objectives in Afghanistan without making this change.” Mr Obama was keen to stress continuity in Afghan strategy. He reiterated the “three Ds” he laid down last December at West Point, when he announced the “surge” of 30,000 troops requested by Gen McChrystal.
The US must “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda,” he said. “We will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists . . .” But the war prosecuted for the past year by Gen McChrystal is going badly. An offensive against the Taliban in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, has been postponed because it enjoys the support of neither the local population nor the Afghan military. A total of 1,114 US troops have been killed, including 450 in the last 18 months. The number of improvised explosive devices has doubled. June is likely to set a record as the deadliest month.
Naming Gen Petraeus to succeed Gen McChrystal was the best way for Mr Obama to signal unity and continuity in strategy – and to satisfy hawks among Republicans and within his own administration. “This is a change in personnel, but it is not a change in policy,” the president stressed.
During the Bush administration, Gen Petraeus commanded US forces in Iraq, where he engineered the 2007 “surge” which eventually improved conditions there. Gen Petraeus was Gen McChrystal’s mentor and wrote the army’s manual on counter-insurgency. But as the Rolling Stone article pointed out, the so-called Coin doctrine is based on two wars that were lost by western powers: Algeria and Vietnam.
Gen McChrystal leaves a mixed legacy. He is credited with apprehending Saddam Hussein and killing or capturing thousands of insurgents in Iraq. But he attempted to cover up the fact that a former football star was killed by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan, and was linked to an abuse and torture scandal in Iraq. Despite Gen McChrystal’s orders to protect Afghans, even at risk to themselves, civilian casualties have reached record levels under his command.