General McChrystal leaves White House with fate uncertain

General Stanley McChrystal has left the White House with no word on whether he had been sacked for comments about the Obama adminstration in a magazine interview.

The US army's Afghanistan commander spoke with the President in the Oval Office for 30 minutes, but left before the monthly war planning meeting that was to take place afterwards.

Military officials said the general was prepared to submit his resignation to Mr Obama.

The President earlier condemned Gen McChrystal for "poor judgment" over his comments in Rolling Stone magazine.

He recalled the commander to Washington in the most extraordinary airing of military-civilian tensions since Harry Truman stripped Gen Douglas MacArthur of his Far East command almost 60 years ago.

Mr Obama wanted Gen McChrystal to explain his disparaging comments about his commander in chief and top aides. If not actual insubordination, the remarks in the magazine article have been seen as at least an indirect challenge of Washington's civilian management of the war by its top military commander.

"I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment," the President said. "But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "all options were on the table" regarding Gen McChrystal's future.

The controversy comes as the war and public support for it in the US are at a tipping point, a perilous time to change military leadership. A majority of Americans now say the war is probably not worth fighting.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai indicated that he did not want Gen McChrystal replaced. Spokesman Waheed Omar, said: "We hope there is not a change of leadership of the international forces here in Afghanistan and that we continue to partner with Gen McChrystal."