U.S. general showed 'poor judgment': Obama

U.S. PresidentBarack Obama says he wants to meet with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, before any decisionis made regardinghisfate afterthe generalopenly criticized the U.S. administration in a magazine article.

"I think it's clear that the article in which[McChrystal]and his team appeared showed poor judgment," Obama said on Tuesday at the close ofa cabinetmeeting in Washington, D.C.

"But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."

The face to face meeting with McChrystalis set for Wednesday.

Anarticle in this week's issue of Rolling Stone, headlined "The Runaway General,"depicts McChrystal as a lone wolf, on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to convince even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war.

Heapologized Tuesday for an interview in which he said, among other things, thathe felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry.

McChrystal issued a statement in Kabul saying, "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened."

McChrystal, the leader ofNATO forces in Afghanistan since June 2009, has beendirected home to explain his comments.

He has reportedly already spoken in person to every person named in the article, but a spokesman said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has told McChrystal of his "deep disappointment" over the article.

There was no immediate response from Eikenberry, who remains in his post in Kabul.Both men publicly say they are friends.

The general has been ordered toattenda monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in person, rather than over a secure video teleconference, so he can discuss his published comments withObama and top Pentagon officials.

'Disappointed' after meeting Obama

The Rolling Stone article says McChrystal voted for Obama but the two failed to connect from the start. He said he was "disappointed"after his first Oval Office meeting with the new president.

Obama called McChrystal on the carpet last fall for speaking too bluntly about his desire for more troops.

"I found that time painful," McChrystal says in the article, on newsstands Friday but already posted on Rolling Stone's website. "I was selling an unsellable position."

Obama agreed to dispatch an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan only after months of study that many in the military found frustrating. And the White House's troop commitment was coupled with a pledge to begin bringingsoldiers home in July 2011 a deadline counterinsurgency strategists advising McChrystal regarded as a arbitrary.

McChrystal said Tuesday, "I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war, and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome."

Obama has the power to fire McChrystal. His predecessor in the role, David McKiernan, wasreplaced afterthe administration determinedthe military needed "new thinking and new approaches" in Afghanistan.

In Brussels on Tuesday, a NATO spokesman called the article "rather unfortunate, but it is just an article."

The spokesman added that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen "has full confidence in Gen. McChrystal as the NATO commander, and in his strategy."

Afghan president Hamid Karzai also voiced his support for McChrystal on Tuesday, calling him the "best commander" of the war.

Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said the president strongly backs the embattledgeneral and hopes that Obama doesn't decide to replace him.

Omar says Karzai believes McChrystal "is a person of great integrity who has a very good understanding of the Afghan people and the Afghan culture."

The profile of McChrystalby Michael Hastings is based on several weeks of interviews and travel with McChrystal's tight circle of aides this spring.

It includes a list of administration figures said to back McChrystal, including Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and puts Vice-President Joe Biden at the top of a list of those who don't.

The article claims McChrystal has seized control of the war "by never taking his eye off the real enemy: the wimps in the White House."

Troop surge

Biden initially opposed McChrystal's proposal for additional forces last year. He favoured a narrower focus on hunting terrorists.

If Eikenberry had the same doubts, McChrystal says in the article, he never expressed them until a leaked internal document threw a wild card into the debate over whether to add more troops last November. In the document, Eikenberry said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was not a reliable partner for the counterinsurgency strategy McChrystal was hired to execute.

McChrystal said he felt "betrayed" and accused the ambassador of caring more about his reputation than the right strategy.

"Here's one that covers his flank for the history books," McChrystal told the magazine. "Now, if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so'."