Washington, October 06: Tensions over the Obama administration over the handling of the war in Afghanistan bubbled over yesterday when the Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, admonished advisers to the President for advertising their points of view in public.
They should counsel him “candidly but privately,” he said bluntly.
Mr Gates, who was addressing an army convention in Washington, mentioned no one by name but his remarks were interpreted as a rebuke to the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, who rehearsed his preference for a beefing up of the military effort in a speech to a London think-tank last week, after giving a lengthy interview to the current affairs show 60 Minutes.
Mr Gates said: “I believe that the decisions that the President will make for the next stage of the Afghanistan campaign will be among the most important of his presidency.
–Agencies