CIA director Petraeus resigns following extramarital affair‏

David Petraeus, the retired four-star general renowned for spearheading military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has resigned abruptly as director of the CIA after admitting to an extramarital affair.

The affair was discovered during an FBI investigation, according to officials briefed on the developments. It was unclear what was being investigated or when the affair came to light.

Petraeus’ resignation was a sudden end to the public career of the best-known general of the post-9/11 wars, a man sometimes mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate.

Petraeus, who turned 60 on Wednesday, told CIA employees in a statement that he had met President Barack Obama at the White House yesterday and asked to be allowed to resign.

Petraeus told his staffers he was guilty of “extremely poor judgment.” He said: “Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours.”

He has been married for 38 years to Holly Petraeus, whom he met as a cadet at the US Military Academy in New York. She was the daughter of the academy superintendent. They have two children, and their son led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan.

Obama said the retired general had provided “extraordinary service to the United States for decades” and had given a lifetime of service that “made our country safer and stronger”.

CIA deputy director Michael Morell is to serve as acting director. Morell was a key aide in the White House to President George Bush during the September 11 2001 terror attacks.

“I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission,” President Obama said.

The resignation comes at a sensitive time. The administration and the CIA have struggled to defend security and intelligence lapses before the attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya and three others.

The CIA has come under intense scrutiny for providing the White House and other administration officials with talking points that led them to say the Benghazi attack was a result of a film protest, not a militant terror attack.

It has now become clear that the CIA was aware the attack was distinct from the film protests across other parts of the Muslim world.

Morell, rather than Petraeus, is now expected to testify at closed congressional briefings next week on the September 11 attacks on the consulate in Benghazi.

For the director of the CIA, being engaged in an extramarital affair is considered a serious breach of security and a counter-intelligence threat.

Although Obama made no mention of Petraeus’ reason for resigning, he offered his thoughts and prayers to the general and his wife, saying Mrs Petraeus had “done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time”.

Zanib Asghar