US President Barack Obama has backed a senior general, despite reports that he exchanged “flirtatious” emails with Florida socialite Jill Kelley.
Spokesman Jay Carney said Mr Obama had “faith” in Gen John Allen, chosen to be the next Nato commander in Europe.
Harassment allegations by Mrs Kelley helped unmask an affair between CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell.
Gen Petraeus resigned on Friday. Gen Allen says he has done nothing wrong.
“I can tell you that the president thinks very highly of Gen Allen and his service to his country, as well as the job he has done in Afghanistan,” spokesman Jay Carney said, in the first White House reaction since Gen Petraeus resigned on Friday
“Start Quote
He has great confidence in the acting CIA director, the secretary of defence and the defence department to carry out the missions he has asked of them”
Jay CarneyWhite House spokesman
He added that President Barack Obama was “very happy” with Gen Allen’s service and record.
Mr Carney also asked reporters “not to extrapolate too broadly” about whether the cases involving Gen Petraeus and Gen Allen suggested a wider cultural problem within the US military.
“He has great confidence in the acting CIA director, the secretary of defence and the defence department to carry out the missions he has asked of them,” Mr Carney added.
Nomination on hold
The Pentagon says 20-30,000 pages of Gen Allen’s documents are being examined, with officials saying they contain “potentially inappropriate” emails between the general and Mrs Kelley.
One US military official told the AFP news agency that the “sheer volume” of communication could amount to “conduct unbecoming of an officer”.
Gen Allen, 58, took over command of coalition forces in Afghanistan after David Petraeus moved to the CIA in 2011. He is due to become Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, pending Senate confirmation.
Currently commanding 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan, Gen Allen was due to face a confirmation hearing in the US Senate on Thursday for his new role as supreme commander of Nato forces in Europe.
That hearing has now been suspended at the request of Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.
Web of emails
The expansion of the scandal to engulf Gen Allen follows a dramatic weekend in which details emerged of how the FBI discovered that CIA chief David Petraeus, 60, was conducting an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
In May, Mrs Kelley, a 37-year-old married woman described as a fixture on the social scene at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, alerted the FBI that she had been receiving anonymous and allegedly threatening emails.
She initially informed an acquaintance at the FBI, who has not been identified.
Petraeus-Allen scandal
- Early summer – Jill Kelley complains to FBI friend of harassing emails – government official
- Late summer – FBI establish emails come from Paula Broadwell, and that she has had an affair with David Petraeus – government official
- 21 Oct – FBI interview Ms Broadwell – government official
- 22-29 Oct – FBI interview Gen Petraeus – FBI official
- 6 Nov – FBI inform James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, of Petraeus affair. Mr Clapper speaks to Gen Petraeus
- 7 Nov – Mr Clapper informs White House
- 8 Nov – White House informs President Obama. He speaks to Gen Petraeus
- 9 Nov – President Obama accepts Gen Petraeus’ resignation. Congressional committees informed
- 12 Nov – FBI searches Mrs Broadwell’s home
It appeared the communication was coming from a woman urging her to stay away from Gen Petraeus.
When the FBI began investigating, those emails were traced to Gen Petraeus’ biographer Paula Broadwell, 40, who lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.
Her home was searched late on Monday, with eight to 10 FBI agents scouring the property for about four hours.
They were seen leaving the house with desktop computers, a printer, a briefcase and several cardboard boxes.
In Florida, Mrs Kelley and her husband were reported to have been friends with Holly and David Petraeus for several years, but details emerging on Monday suggested that she was also close to Gen Allen.
Both Gen Petraeus and Gen Allen were said to have intervened in a custody dispute on behalf of Mrs Kelley’s twin sister.
Afghan surprise
Gen Allen, a four-star Marine Corps general, succeeded David Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
He was deputy commander of US Central Command (Centcom) before taking over in Afghanistan. He is also a veteran of the Iraq war.
The BBC’s Bilal Sarwary, in Kabul, says the scandal is making headlines and has shocked many people in Afghanistan, where Gen Allen had built good relations with leaders and commanders.
Some Afghan officials are asking how he found time to write thousands of emails when he was in charge of running a war, our correspondent says.
Gen Petraeus’s affair with Mrs Broadwell began after the general retired from the army and about two months after he became director of the CIA. He claims it ended about four months ago.
Gen Petraeus joined the CIA in September 2011 after heading international forces in Iraq and later in Afghanistan.
The spymaster had been due to testify before a closed-door congressional committee meeting about a 11 September 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.
Acting CIA director Michael Morell will testify in his place on Thursday, although Gen Petraeus may be called at a later date.
FBI officials are scheduled to brief the Senate and House intelligence committees on Tuesday about the case, but Mr Panetta has criticised the FBI for not informing members of US congressional committees.
1. Threatening emails: Early in the summer, Jill Kelley complains to an FBI friend about being sent harassing emails. The FBI later establishes they came from Paula Broadwell, who co-authored a biography of Gen David Petraeus.
2. Affair: The FBI investigation also reveals emails between Mrs Broadwell – a married former military officer – and Gen Petraeus that indicate they were having an extra-marital affair.
3. Family friends: Jill Kelley and her husband, Scott, are family friends of Gen Petraeus and his wife, Holly. Officials say Mrs Broadwell saw Mrs Kelley as a rival for Gen Petraeus’s attentions. However, there is no suggestion Mrs Kelley and Gen Petraeus had an affair.
4. “Inappropriate emails” investigated: The top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Allen, is now being investigated for allegedly sending “inappropriate emails” to Jill Kelley. The FBI has referred the matter to the Pentagon. A senior official says up to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents are under review.
(BBC)
