The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, was recalled to Washington today after a damning magazine profile showed him mocking senior figures in the US administration and criticising President Obama.

The general is due to leave Kabul within hours, The Times has learnt, after a morning of tense discussions with the Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defence, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

An aide said the White House had also been involved in the discussions. He is due to arrive in Washington on Wednesday morning. It’s not yet clear when he will arrive back in Afghanistan.

The general’s staff in Kabul said they were confident he would be returning to command, but they admitted they were not sure what would be on the agenda when he landed in America.

A series of bombshell revelations in a Rolling Stone profile exposed deeply-held tensions between the Obama Administration and the military in Afghanistan. It comes amid growing disquiet on both sides of the Atlantic over the slow pace of progress in the nine-year war.

In the profile, titled The Runaway General, General McChrystal’s aides mock Joe Biden, the US Vice President. The general also admits he felt “betrayed” by Karl Eikenberry, the US Ambassador to Kabul, and senior staff say that he was “disappointed” when he met Mr Obama.

James Jones, the US National Security adviser, is described by one aide as a “clown” while General McChrystal likens petitioning for more troops to selling “an unsellable position”.

In the report, the general’s aides also claim he only wrestled control of the campaign, “by never taking his eye off the real enemy: the wimps in the White House.”

In a statement issued yesterday, General McChrystal said the article showed poor judgment and should, “never have happened”.

“I extend my sincerest apology for this profile,” he said. “It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened.

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