Washington: The scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus widened on Tuesday as US defense officials said they were looking into "flirtatious" e-mails between General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, and a woman at the center of the affair. Defense Department officials said they were sifting through 30,000 pages of email and other communications between Allen and Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite whose complaints about harassing messages led to the discovery of Petraeus' affair with his biographer.
The revelation threatens to fell another of the US military's biggest names after Petraeus' surprise resignation last week. It also complicates President Barack Obama's efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan and reorganize his national security team following his re-election. A senior defense official told Reuters the emails between Allen and Kelley were seen as potentially inappropriate because they were "flirtatious" in nature, not because they dealt with sensitive information. Allen has denied that the two had a sexual relationship, officials said on condition of anonymity.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Allen, a four-star Marine Corps general, would stay in his job for the time being, and the White House said Obama still had faith in Allen's ability to command US troops in Afghanistan. But asked how Obama saw the unfolding scandal at a time when his priorities include impending "fiscal cliff," Press Secretary Jay Carney said: "I certainly wouldn't call it welcome."
Obama suspended plans to transfer Allen to Europe, where he was to be
07:54 AM, Nov 14, 2012
