Former U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Details Tensions With The White House On Policy

Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, left, and General McChrystal, center, confer with President Barack Obama in the White House, 7 December 2009. Wikipedia

General Details Pentagon Tensions With Obama on Afghanistan -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — In a memoir, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former American commander in Afghanistan, writes that tensions between the White House and the Pentagon were evident in the Obama administration from its opening months in office.

The beginning of President Obama’s first term “saw the emergence of an unfortunate deficit of trust between the White House and the Department of Defense, largely arising from the decision-making process on Afghanistan,” General McChrystal writes. “The effects were costly.”

The book by General McChrystal, who was fired from his post in 2010 after an article in Rolling Stone quoted him and his staff making dismissive comments about the White House, is likely to disappoint readers who are looking for a vivid blow-by-blow account of infighting within the administration.

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My Comment: I would wager that those stress levels are even higher today as budget cuts and mission pivots to Asia and elsewhere becomes the norm rather than the exception.