Allen resumes command in Afghanistan

2012-11-21 22:17

US General John Allen. (File, AP)

Washington — General John Allen has returned to Kabul to resume his duties as the top US and Nato commander of the war in Afghanistan, more than a week after the Pentagon announced it is investigating potentially "inappropriate" correspondence between the four-star general and a woman linked to the former CIA chief David Petraeus sex scandal.

Lieutenant Colonel Les Carroll, a spokesperson for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said Allen returned to work on Wednesday.

Allen had been in Washington when news of his e-mail correspondence with Florida socialite Jill Kelley surfaced last Monday.

He was expected to testify before a Senate committee last Thursday on his nomination to become the commander of US European Command and the top Nato general. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has put that nomination on hold.

At the time Panetta announced that the Pentagon inspector general is reviewing as many as 30 000 pages of Allen's correspondence with Kelley, the defense chief said he had determined that Allen should remain in command in Kabul, pending the outcome of the probe.

Allen's predecessor as Afghanistan war commander, Petraeus, resigned from his post as CIA director earlier this month after acknowledging an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

 The FBI learned of the affair as it investigated anonymous, harassing e-mails, ultimately traced to Broadwell, that were sent to Kelley. The FBI investigation also turned up the e-mails between Allen and Kelley.

- AP