Chuck Hagel: quits as Obama’s defence secretary

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has resigned after criticism of the campaigns in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State group.

The New York Times said President Barack Obama will announce the 68-year-old former senator and Vietnam war veteran’s departure later in the day in a statement from the White House.

Hagel is the only Republican in President Obama’s cabinet.

He is said to have been asked to step down Friday after a series of meetings over the past several weeks and plans to announced the resignation Monday in the Rose Garden, the paper reported.

An administration official told the paper that it was Mr. Hagel, a former U.S. senator who was confirmed last year after a bruising confirmation process, who initiated talks about his future a few weeks ago and that he and Mr. Obama mutually agreed it was time for him to leave.

He submitted his resignation Monday morning and it was accepted by Mr. Obama, the Associated Press reported, said the Washington Times.

A White House official told AP that Mr. Obama and Mr. Hagel “determined that it was time for new leadership in the Pentagon.”

Mr. Hagel leaves for the next Defense Secretary a host of issues to confront, notably the Obama administration’s military campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group.

The New York Times reported that possible replacements include Michele Flournoy, the former under secretary of defense; Sen. Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne; and Ashton B. Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense.

*From Washington Times

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