WASHINGTON, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - The extramarital affair that toppled retired Gen. David Petraeus as head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), ensnared another top American military leader on Tuesday, as the Defense Department said Gen. John Allen, head of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, is under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with another woman involved in the case.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed the Pentagon is conducting an internal investigation into thousands of emails between Allen, a four-star Marine general who succeeded Petraeus as the American commander in Afghanistan, and Jill Kelley, the Florida woman who prompted the investigation that led to Petraeus’ resignation.
“While the matter is under investigation and before the facts are determined, General Allen will remain ISAF commander,” Panetta said in a statement.
“His leadership has been instrumental in achieving the significant progress that ISAF, working alongside our Afghan partners, has made in bringing greater security to the Afghan people, and in ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists,” Panetta added. “He is entitled to due process in this matter.”
A Pentagon official travelling with Panetta to Australia on Tuesday told reporters Panetta has directed the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate as many as 30,000 pages of documents, many of them emails between Allen and Kelley from 2010 to 2012. The official would not say whether they were sexual in nature or included unauthorized information.
President Barack Obama placed a hold Tuesday on Allen’s nomination to become Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Europe, and head of US forces in Europe, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Allen was in Washington for a series of Capitol Hill meetings on Tuesday before his confirmation hearings, which had been set to begin Thursday. With the nomination on hold, it was not clear if the meetings were still taking place.
Allen has denied any wrongdoing.
Kelley is a married woman and Petraeus family friend who reported having received anonymous, threatening emails later linked to Petraeus’ biographer Paula Broadwell.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents looking into the emails discovered the affair between Broadwell and Petraeus, who resigned Friday as CIA Director.
A senior law enforcement official said while following up on Kelley’s complaint, FBI investigators looked into all of her emails, a routine part of the investigation, according to the New York Times.
“When you get involved in a cybercase like this, you have to look at everything,” the official said.
