Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who was selected by President Obama to develop the campaign against the Islamic State, plans to step down from his post in early November.
Allen will relinquish his position as envoy to the global coalition after just over a year, four Obama administration officials confirmed, and the White House is left looking for a replacement.
Bloomberg reported:
U.S. officials familiar with Allen’s decision say he has been frustrated with White House micromanagement of the war and its failure to provide adequate resources to the fight. He unsuccessfully tried to convince the administration to allow U.S. tactical air control teams to deploy on the ground to help pick targets for air strikes in Iraq. Allen also tried several times to convince the White House to agree to Turkish demands for a civilian protection zone in Syria, to no avail. Nonetheless, administration officials stress that Allen’s decision to leave his post was motivated mainly by the health of his wife, who suffers from an auto-immune disorder.
The decision comes less than a week after the Pentagon effectively acknowledged the failure of its $500 million program to train moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS) in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon plans to overhaul its effort to train Syrian insurgents, which has yielded only four or five fighters still combating IS, according to the top military commander of Middle East operations.
Allen’s assessment of the war against IS has stood at odds with others from top military and political leaders. While Allen said in July that the terrorist group "is losing," others like incoming Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Robert Neller have characterized the war as a "stalemate." Moreover, intelligence agencies recently concluded that the administration’s bomb campaign against IS has yielded no perceivable degradation of the terrorist organization’s forces.
The Pentagon is currently investigating allegations that military officials altered intelligence estimates about the campaign against IS to give a more favorable impression of progress.
Allen will leave his position along with his chief of staff Karin von Hippel. Before the White House names his replacement, Allen’s job responsibilities will likely pass to Ambassador Brett McGurk, his deputy.