As various officials and lawmakers weigh in
on the Rolling Stone profile of
General Stanley McChrystal, one
voice is conspicuously absent from the chatter: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Only Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's
inner circle," the
story reports, quoting an advisor as saying that "Hillary
had Stan's back during the strategic review"
A State Department official told The Cable that Clinton and her staff
were not contacted during the writing of the article; they found out about it
Monday evening along with everybody else. But Clinton hasn't issued any
statement on the story, even though it directly attacks two of her senior staffers,
Special Representative Richard "Wounded Animal" Holbrooke
and Amb. Karl Eikenberry.
Clinton was also among the only officials named in
the story who did not receive an apology call, presumably because the comments
about her in the story were so favorable. Holbrooke and Eikenberry both got
calls, which seemed redundant since both were in Kabul with McChrystal this
week and even sat in meetings together with the General and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
There are two plausible explanations for Clinton's
silence. First of all, McChrystal works for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Clinton may not want
to step on his toes by seeming to weigh in on an issue surrounding a military
official. She also may not want to fuel speculation that she is gunning for
Gates's job, however unlikely that possibility really is.
"The secretary of state has backed McChrystal to the
hilt, even going against her own ambassador, Karl Eikenberry. Her get-tough
stance is fueling talk that she might replace Gates as defense secretary," the
article says.
The other reason Clinton might be keeping silent is
because she is preparing to defend McChrystal inside today's Afghanistan
strategy meeting at the White House, and criticizing him openly in the press
would impair that cause. Clinton could be one of McChrystal's last friends
inside that room -- and he needs all the friends he can get.
The State Department official declined to comment on
Clinton's views on the article, or whether she felt McChrystal should be
relieved of his command. Neither Holbrooke nor Eikenberry responded to requests
for comment on the article.
But State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was compelled to talk about the story when asked about
it directly at Tuesday's briefing. He tried to distance the State Department
from the mess altogether.
"I
think our focus is on the civilian component of the ongoing strategy," he said,
adding that Clinton has read the article but hasn't even told Crowley what her
opinion is.
Crowley
also sought to downplay the divisions among the president's Afghanistan team,
another signal that the State Department is not in favor of shaking up the
command structure in Kabul, which could be hugely disruptive for civilian efforts
there as well.
"In any team of heavyweights, you're
going to have different personalities," Crowley said.
"I just don't think that this is going to distract us from our focus on the
mission."
With his close connection to Pakistani General Kayani, let us see if General Petraeus can interdict and stop the flow of Afghan Taliban traffic along the Durand line. All American officers in southern Afghanistan know that they cannot prevail in the ongoing military operations, unless Taliban strongholds across the Durand Line in North Waziristan and Baluchistan are neutralized. Now if General Patraeus want US Afghan mission under his command to succeed, he is going to find out first hand how important it is to stop that traffic of radicals, armed and trained across the Durand Line. This is where rubber meets the road for the famed General.
Josh Rogin reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.
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