KABUL) US Central Intelligence Agency Director and former commander of International Security Assistance Force David H. Petraeus resigned from his post on Friday, citing an extramarital affair.
In a statement to CIA employees posted on the spy agency’s website, Petraeus admitted to having an illicit affair and said he had informed President Barack Obama on Thursday of his decision to step down. Obama accepted his resignation on Friday.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” Petraeus said. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours.”
Obama, who appointed Michael Morell as acting CIA director, praised Petraeus for his “extraordinary service to the United States for decades” both as a general officer and as spy chief.
“By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger,” Obama said.
Petraeus served as ISAF commander from 2010 to 2011. He succeeded Gen. Stanley McChrystal who was forced to resign after derisive comments about the Obama administration and his aides were publilshed in the Rolling Stone magazine.
A retired four-star general and architect of the US counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq, Petraeus was seen as a war hero in the US and once touted as a possible US presidential contender.
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