U.S. General Tossed for Blasting Afghan Leaders as 'Isolated From Reality

One of the top U.S. Generals in Afghanistan has been relieved of command for calling out Kabul's leadership as "isolated from reality" and failing to appreciate the U.S. sacrifice in "blood and treasure" to protect them.

Major General Peter Fuller gave an interview to Politico yesterday, and he didn't seem to pull any punches. Fuller had particularly biting word for Afghan President Karzai, whom Fuller described as "erratic. In response to Karzai's statement that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in a war against the U.S., Fuller asked:

 “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?”

It wasn't just the leadership in Afghanistan that received flak from Fuller. The Afghan people came under fire for their unrealistic expectations of U.S. ability and lack of gratitude for sacrifices on the field of battle. As Fuller summarized it for Politico:

“If you’re in a very poor country like Afghanistan, you think that America has roads paved in gold, everybody lives in Hollywood. They don’t understand the sacrifices that America is making to provide for their security. And I think that’s part of my job to educate ’em.”

General John Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, responded to the news of Fuller's comments that they are “neither indicative of our current solid relationship with the government of Afghanistan, its leadership, or our joint commitment to prevail here in Afghanistan.”

MG Fuller has served in the military for over 30 years. The disciplinary measures facing him will probably push him to retire early. For speaking his mind, Fuller's career has probably come to a screeching halt.

And of course, this is not the first time that the White House has come down on a senior military officer for getting too frank with reporters. General Stanley McChrystal, known in the Spec Ops community for being a true warrior-commander and counterinsurgency wiz, was fired by Obama in 2010  from the top U.S. military post in Afghanistan.

His crime?

Gen. McChrystal told the world (via his staff) that President Obama had treated their first meeting in the oval office like a ten-minute photo op, and Obama seemed "disengaged," among other not-so-shocking observations.

At some point, the White House may come to realize that false allies and bad policies are the problem-- not blunt generals.