Four months after taking office, President Obama approved the firing of the four-star army general leading the war in Afghanistan, General John Allen.
The following summer, the president sacked his replacement, General Stanley A McChrystal, for making intemperate remarks to a reporter. McChrystal’s successor, Army General David H Petraeus, often disagreed with Obama on troop levels and war strategy.
It was not until Marine General John R Allen took command of the war in July 2011 that Obama found a general with whom he clicked. Allen demonstrated more flexibility on troop numbers and shifts in strategy than his predecessors. Obama’s aides, in turn, were far more willing to listen to Allen’s views on how the war needed to be waged.
Obama had wanted to give Allen, who relinquished command in Kabul this month, the military’s most prestigious overseas assignment, supreme allied commander in Europe. But on Tuesday morning, Allen announced that he planned to retire from the military because his wife was seriously ill.
The decision deprived the president of a four-star general with whom he had built a close wartime relationship and forced the White House to find a new candidate to oversee US and NATO operations in Europe.
“I told General Allen that he has my deep, personal appreciation for his extraordinary service over the last 19 months in Afghanistan, as well as his decades of service in the United States Marine Corps,” the president said in a statement after meeting with the general at the White House.
In an interview Monday evening, Allen said he wanted to focus on helping his wife, Kathy, cope with a combination of chronic health issues, which included an autoimmune disorder.
“Right now, I’ve just got to get her well,” Allen said. “It’s time to take care of my family.”
Allen, who relinquished command of the war nine days ago, said his decision was not influenced by a Pentagon investigation into e-mail messages he exchanged with Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, who was involved in the scandal that prompted Petraeus to resign as CIA director last year. Allen was cleared of wrongdoing last month after investigators combed through the messages.
Allen, 59, was the first Marine ever selected to command a theater of war. Leading the multinational military campaign in Afghanistan was “the honor of a lifetime,” he said.