Pentagon ex-head Gates criticises Obama's Afghan tactics

 

The former defence secretary voices frustration in his memoir at the "controlling nature" of Mr Obama's White House (file photo)

Former US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has written a book strongly criticising President Barack Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan.

In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War, Mr Gates says that the president was sceptical that his administration's Afghan strategy would succeed.
"I never doubted [his] support for the troops, only his support for their mission," Mr Gates writes.
Mr Gates was Pentagon chief under Presidents Obama and George Bush.
He was the first Pentagon head to serve presidents of different parties before leaving political office in 2011.