US seeks to reassure allies after sacking of commander

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WASHINGTON, June 25 (AFP): The top US military officer was en route to Afghanistan Friday to explain the sacking of the allied commander in Kabul as the Obama administration insisted the United States was not 'bogged down' in the fight against the Taliban.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, departed late Thursday for a tour of Afghanistan and Pakistan to reassure the region's leaders that the war effort would not be derailed by the departure of General Stanley McChrystal.
"My message will be clear. Nothing changes about our strategy. Nothing changes about the mission," said Mullen.
He spoke a day after McChrystal was forced to step down as commander of the NATO-led force over disparaging remarks about administration officials in a bombshell magazine article this week.
McChrystal's disrespectful display was "unacceptable" and President Barack Obama's choice as the new commander, General David Petraeus, was the "best possible outcome to an awful situation," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at the same press conference.