Petraeus almost quit over Obama’s Afghan policy

Current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus reportedly almost resigned his post as the four-star general commander of Afghanistan after President Obama ignored his advice on how to prosecute the war, the Associated Press is reporting.

The AP has obtained an advance copy of Penguin Press’ “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” a biography of Petraeus, and reports:

Petraeus decided that resigning would be a “selfish, grandstanding move with huge political ramifications” and that now was “time to salute and carry on.”

While Petraeus’ thoughts on resigning are new, his opposition to Obama’s Afghanistan policy is not. In June of this year, then-Afghanistan commander Petraeus told a Senate hearing that Obama’s rapid troop drawdown was “a more aggressive formulation…than what we had recommended.”

Heritage Foundation Center for Foreign Policy Studies Driector James Carafano speculates that Petraeus’ move to CIA may have been a compromise between Obama and Petraeus’:

I would not be surprised if Obama and Petraeus viewed the CIA job as time out for both of them. If Petraeus had resigned after Afghanistan then he would have had only two choices 1) hide in a cave or 2) in every public venue be drawn into the politics of the president’s foreign policy. I don’t see how that changes between now and November-unless some foreign policy problem really blows-up.

UPDATE: All In author Paula Broadwell tweeted this clarification: #Petraeus wanted the CIA job and suggested it last fall before drawndown discussions commenced.

 

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