Petraeus sex scandal ensnares top US commander in Afghanistan
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Agencies via Shanghai Daily, November 14, 2012
The career of the top US commander in Afghanistan is now in jeopardy because of the investigation into the sex scandal involving David Petraeus, the former top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan who resigned as CIA director last week.
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In this July 9, 2011, file photo, General John Allen (left) and Army General David Petraeus (center), the top US commander in Afghanistan and incoming CIA Director at the time, greet Leon Panetta, who had just become US Defense Secretary after working as CIA Director, in Kabul, Afghanistan. |
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday and that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.
A senior defense official traveling with Panetta said Allen's communications were with Kelley, who has been described as an unpaid social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, which is headquarters to the US Central Command. She is not a US government employee.
Kelley is said to have received threatening e-mails from Paula Broadwell, who is Petraeus' biographer and who had an extramarital affair with Petraeus that reportedly began after he became CIA director in September 2011. Petraeus resigned as CIA director on Friday.
Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
Nomination on hold
He had been nominated by US President Barack Obama be the next commander of US European Command. Obama has put that nomination on hold, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said yesterday, while urging the Senate to "act swiftly" on his nomination of General Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan.
The senior military official, who discussed the matter only on condition of anonymity because it is under investigation, said Panetta believed it was prudent to launch a Pentagon investigation, although the official would not explain the nature of Allen's problematic communications.
The official said 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails and other documents from Allen's communications with Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review. He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He said he did not know whether Petraeus is mentioned in the e-mails.
"General Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter," the official said. If Allen was found to have had an affair with Kelley, he could face charges of adultery, which is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Panetta said while the matter is being investigated by the Defense Department Inspector General, Allen will remain in his post as commander of the International Security Assistance Force, based in Kabul. He praised Allen as having been instrumental in making progress in the war.
At the NSC, Vietor said Obama "remains focused on fully supporting our extraordinary troops and coalition partners in Afghanistan, who General Allen continues to lead as he has so ably done for over a year."
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