US commander in Afghanistan cleared in misconduct probe

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Pentagon has cleared the top US commander in Afghanistan of wrongdoing over emails with a woman tied to the sex scandal that forced CIA director David Petraeus to resign, a US official said Tuesday.

The Defence Department’s inspector general completely exonerated General John Allen, the outgoing chief of US-led forces in Afghanistan, over the emails, paving the way for his pending nomination to take up command of NATO forces in Europe, the official said.

“Allen has been cleared by the IG,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The FBI came upon the emails from Allen in its probe of Petraeus, and defence officials had said the tone of the messages had been potentially “inappropriate” and possibly violated rules applying to military officers.

Allen had exchanged messages with Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite who had thrown parties for senior officers at US Central Command, which has its headquarters in Tampa.

Kelley had alerted the FBI to anonymous emails she received and claimed were threatening. The emails were traced to David Petraeus’s biographer, Paula Broadwell, and authorities then uncovered evidence that Broadwell was having an affair with the CIA director.