WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan today, choosing the embattled general’s direct boss – Gen. David Petraeus – to take over the troubled 9-year-old war, a source told The Associated Press.

McChrystal was summoned to Washington from Kabul to explain scathing, mocking remarks about administration officials, including Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, by him and his team in a magazine article. But the morning showdown with Obama in the Oval Office was not enough to save his job.

McChrystal offered his resignation and Obama accepted it, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the president’s decision was not yet made public.

Obama spoke about the controversy from the Rose Garden, accompanied by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Petraeus, who attended a formal Afghanistan war meeting at the White House today, now oversees the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq as head of U.S. Central Command.

By pairing the decision on McChrystal’s departure with the name of his replacement, Obama is seeking to move on as quickly as possible from the firestorm surrounding the Rolling Stone magazine story and the renewed debate over his Afghanistan policy that it provoked.

With Washington abuzz about this controversy, there was an almost complete lockdown on information about the morning’s developments. It was not even known where McChrystal went after his half-hour meeting with Obama at the White House, which came not long after his early morning arrival from Afghanistan.

Petraeus is the nation’s best-known military man, having risen to prominence as the commander who turned around the Iraq war in 2007. The Afghanistan job is actually a step down from his current post.

Petraeus has a reputation for rigorous discipline and careful attention to his image. He keeps a punishing pace – spending more than 300 days on the road last year.

Petraeus briefly collapsed during Senate testimony last week, apparently from dehydration. It was a rare glimpse of weakness for a man known as among the military’s most driven.

He is also among the brightest, and rose to command through a mix of brains and now has been adapted for Afghanistan.

Petraeus has repeatedly denied that he plans to run for president in 2012, and is said to want only one job: chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff.

In the hearing last week, Petraeus told Congress he would recommend delaying the pullout of U.S. forces from Afghanistan beginning in July 2011 if need be, saying security and political conditions in Afghanistan must be ready to handle a U.S. drawdown.

That does not mean Petraeus is opposed to bringing some troops home, and he said repeatedly that he supports the new Afghanistan strategy that Obama announced in December. Petraeus’ caution is rooted in the fact that the uniformed military – and counterinsurgency specialists in particular – have always been uncomfortable with fixed parameters.

 

1:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON — A senior administration official tells The Associated Press that President Barack Obama has accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s resignation as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and is replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command.

McChrystal was pushed out over his blistering remarks about administration officials quoted in a magazine interview.

After an Oval Office meeting with McChrystal this morning, Obama huddled with his war advisers and planned to announce his decision on the general’s fate to the nation at 1:30 p.m. EDT in the Rose Garden.

The official spoke only on condition of anonymity, because the president’s announcement was not yet public. Petraeus now oversees the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

1:26 p.m.

WASHINGTON — A source tells The Associated Press that President Barack Obama will name Gen. David Petraeus to succeed Gen. Stanley McChrystal as top war commander in Afghanistan.

1:24 p.m.

WASHINGTON — A source tells The Associated Press that President Barack Obama has decided to oust Afghanistan commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal over inflammatory remarks he made about Obama and other high administration officials.

McChrystal had apologized for several disparaging remarks he made in an interview about his civilian superiors.

11:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON — Afghanistan war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has left the White House after a closed meeting with President Barack Obama to explain his inflammatory remarks about civilian leaders. There was no immediate word on whether Obama would fire him.

McChrystal departed the White House before Obama convened a regularly scheduled war planning meeting there. Officials had indicated earlier that McChrystal was summoned back to Washington from Afghanistan to explain at that war meeting the disparaging remarks he made about the Obama administration in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Obama and McChrystal met for about 30 minutes before McChrystal was seen leaving the White House.

Before the meeting, two military officials said McChrystal went in prepared to submit his resignation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Obama was expected to make an announcement on McChrystal’s future later Wednesday.

“I think it’s clear that the article in which he and his team appeared … showed poor judgment,” Obama said Tuesday at the close of an unrelated Cabinet meeting. “But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions.”

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