Robert Gates was President Obama’s Defence Secretary
Jason Reed/Reuters
President Obama “lost faith” in US strategy in Afghanistan and cast doubt on the leadership of the man he chose to implement it, according to Robert Gates, his former Defence Secretary.
In a highly critical memoir of his time as the Pentagon chief, Mr Gates, now retired, reveals that Mr Obama had misgivings about the decision to send another 33,000 troops to Afghanistan. His frustration boiled over during a White House meeting in March 2011.