A US general in Afghanistan has been sacked after accusing leaders including President Hamid Karzai of being out of touch and ungrateful for American support, officials said.
Major General Peter Fuller, who was deputy commander of NATO’s mission to train and equip Afghan forces, had been dismissed after making “inappropriate public comments”, the NATO-led international force said late Friday.
In an interview published by a private news website Thursday, Fuller said Afghan leaders did not fully recognise the human and financial cost borne by the United States in Afghanistan and were “isolated from reality”.
He also directly criticised Karzai after the president said last month that Afghanistan would support Pakistan if Islamabad ever went to war with the United States.
“Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle?” Fuller said of Karzai’s comments.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care?'”
He added, “When they are going to have a presidential election, you hope they get a guy that’s more articulate in public.”
But US General John Allen, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, said they did not reflect the state of the international force’s relationship with Karzai’s administration.
“These unfortunate comments are neither indicative of our current solid relationship with the government of Afghanistan, its leadership, or our joint commitment to prevail here in Afghanistan,” Allen said in a statement.
“The Afghan people are an honorable people and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission — bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta fully backed the decision, spokesman Captain John Kirby told AFP.
“The secretary has full trust and confidence in General Allen’s judgment with respect to his decision in this case,” Kirby said in an email.
In 2010, General Stanley McCrystal, then commander of international troops in Afghanistan, was dismissed by President Barack Obama over comments made by him and his aides about senior political leaders to Rolling Stone magazine.
NATO’s mission to recruit and train the Afghan army and police to take increasing control of security after foreign combat troops leave in 2014 is seen as one of the most important parts of the military effort in Afghanistan.
