The top US general in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington today to face possible dismissal for remarks in which he and his staff displayed contempt for senior members of the Obama administration.
Gen Stanley McChrystal, head of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, was said by a US magazine to have "seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: the wimps in the White House."
The general was scheduled to take part via teleconference in a monthly meeting on Afghanistan in Washington today, but the US president, Barack Obama, has ordered him to appear in person. The White House said last night that Gen McChrystal had made an "enormous mistake", and refused to rule out sacking him.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Gen McChrystal had made "a significant mistake" and used poor judgment.
In a profile published in the magazine Rolling Stone, the general tells an aide that if he were asked what he thought of the war strategy advocated by the vice president, Joe Biden, he would reply: "Who's that?" Another aide describes the national security adviser, James Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of of the Cold War, as "a clown" who was "stuck in 1985".
Yesterday Gen McChrystal issued an apology for his remarks. "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile," he said in a statement. "It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened. 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."
Tension between military commanders on the ground and politicians in Washington casts doubt on the war in Afghanistan, including a planned major Nato mission to take Kandahar from the Taliban this summer.
Gen McChrystal has been working to build up critical support from Pashtun tribal leaders for the delicate mission that aims to create a "rising tide of security", as he has put it, in the city and surrounding areas.
But this is not the first time his plain-speaking style has landed him in hot water.
Last year, after Gen McChrystal dismissed Mr Biden's counter-insurgency strategy as "short-sighted", he was given a dressing down by Mr Obama on Air Force One and told to keep a lower profile.
Gen McChrystal made his name in Iraq as head of the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite and shadowy unit that killed and captured hundreds of al Qa'eda insurgents in Iraq, including its leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi. He was appointed to deliver a success story for Mr Obama's most important foreign policy issue, Afghanistan. In the magazine profile he comes across as an earthy soldier who considers candles on dinner tables "too Gucci".
His awkward first one-on-one meeting with Mr Obama took place in the Oval Office after Gen McChrystal was given the Afghanistan job, the magazine reports. "It was a 10-minute photo-op," an adviser to Gen McChrystal is quoted as saying. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."
Gen McChrystal is also dismissive of Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, whom the general's team describe as a "wounded animal" who worries about being fired.
The profile says that on a trip to Paris, Gen McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke," he groans. "I don't even want to open it." His relationship with the US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, a three-star general who previously served in Afghanistan, is notoriously tense.
In a classified cable to the White House leaked last year Mr Eikenberry warned that the US president should not send more soldiers because Hamid Karzai, the Afghan leader, was an unreliable partner.
Gen McChrystal told Rolling Stone that he felt "betrayed" by the leak and offered a cutting assessment of the ambassador's motives. "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so'."
Gen McChrystal is trying to implement a controversial counterinsurgency programme that focuses on winning the loyalty of the Afghan population. It is no easy task - the US death toll is rising and Afghans are increasingly becoming hostile to foreign forces as air strikes continue to kill innocent civilians.
He has maintained a good relationship with Mr Karzai, however. While the Afghan leader has fallen out with nearly every major international ally, Gen McChrystal has been seen as a steadying influence on a leader perceived by many as unreliable and lacking legitimacy.
He travelled with Mr Karzai to Washington in May to help patch up relations between the Obama administration and the Afghan president, which had hit rock bottom after a former US diplomat suggested Mr Karzai had a drug problem.
hghafour@thenational.ae
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.