Obama fires his General in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama fired General Stanley McChrystal - his top commander in Afghanistan - over comments the General made in an interview and reportedly enraged the White House.

Obama relieved General McChrystal of command and replaced him with his boss, General David Petraeus, better known as the architect of the Iraq war turnaround.

McChrystal was urgently summoned to Washington from Afghanistan to answer for remarks he and his aides made to in a magazine article that disparaged the president and other civilian leaders.

"The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general," Obama said bluntly in the White House Rose Garden as he announced McChrystal's dismissal.

"It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And it erodes the trust that's necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan," he said.