Former US defence secretary Robert Gates has delivered a scathing criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan in a newly released memoir.
In his book Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War, Mr Gates says the president was sceptical that his administration's Afghan strategy would succeed. He said President Obama's strategy was all about a US withdrawal.
President Obama with Robert Gates (right) at his farewell ceremony in 2011. Photo: AFP
He describes Mr Obama as a man of personal integrity who was right in his decisions regarding Afghanistan, but says the president was uncomfortable with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he inherited from the Bush administration.
He also says Mr Obama was distrustful of the military that was providing him options. He writes that in March 2011 Mr Obama did not trust Gen David Petraeus - the US military commander in Afghanistan in 2010-11 - and "could not stand" Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Mr Gates was Pentagon chief under Presidents Obama and George Bush. The BBC reports he was the first Pentagon head to serve presidents of different parties before leaving political office in 2011.
The former defence secretary also includes scathing criticism of Vice-President Joe Biden, saying he had been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades".
In response, the National Security Council issued a statement on Tuesday saying Mr Obama relies on Mr Biden's good counsel every day, considering him one of the leading statesmen of his time.
