Petraeus investigation ensnares commander of U.S., NATO troops in Afghanistan

The senior official described Kathy Allen, the general’s wife, and Kelley as “good friends.”

“He’s embarrassed by this,” the senior official said. “But there’s no there there.”

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Still, the scrutiny of Allen’s personal behavior extends a remarkable string of failures and misconduct allegations that have dogged the last four commanders of the Afghan war. Petraeus took the job in 2010 after President Obama fired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal for cooperating with a Rolling Stone profile that quoted McChrystal’s aides as mocking the president, Vice President Biden and other civilian leaders.

McChrystal had lasted only a year after taking over from Gen. David McKiernan, who was sacked when then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates lost confidence in his ability to fight the war.

The unfolding scandal has shaken President Obama’s national-security staff and upended his carefully chosen plans for filling senior military and intelligence leadership jobs in his second term.

It also further calls into question the personal behavior of two of the U.S. military’s highest-ranking and most respected figures, who apparently ignored concerns about the highly sensitive nature of their positions as they embraced personal relationships with younger women who were not their wives.

Petraeus’s fall from grace shocked the CIA but especially stunned his former colleagues in the Army, where he was considered one of the most brilliant and influential commanders of his generation. Allen was likewise seen as an intellectual and upstanding role model who first made his mark as a general in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration and later earned Obama’s confidence.

In Washington, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Tuesday that the Petraeus scandal apparently did not involve national security, which would have triggered a requirement for congressional notification. The CIA’s acting director is talking to congressional leaders “about what has transpired and how we will go forward,” she said.

“But I think that it’s really important to note that this was a personal indiscretion, as far as we know,” Pelosi said. “Why somebody would be personally indiscreet is their own problem. Why they would do it in e-mails is beyond my imagination. But in any event, the honorable thing was done. The general has resigned.”

There are “questions about timing, just as a tradition to notify Congress before we see it on TV,” she said. “If it involves national security, though, that’s a different story. So far, we do not believe that it involves national security.”

In his statement, Panetta said Allen would remain as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan for now, “while the matter is under investigation and before the facts are determined.” The senior defense official said Allen “disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing,” but would not elaborate.

But his time as commander in Afghanistan may be short. Panetta has also asked the Senate to expedite the confirmation of his likely successor, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford.