You would think that after the Rolling Stone profile that cost Stanley McChrystal his command in Afghanistan, generals would be extremely careful about venting steam to reporters. But no.

Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, just announced that he fired Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, the deputy commander of the crucial mission to train Afghan security forces. Fuller, a recent arrival to Afghanistan, gave a surprisingly harsh interview to Politico criticizing Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan generals he mentors as "isolated from reality."

Allen is having none of it. "These unfortunate comments are neither indicative of our current solid relationship with the government of Afghanistan, its leadership, or our joint commitment to prevail here in Afghanistan," Allen said in a statement.

Fuller is a perfect example of what Dave Chappelle memorably called "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong." In the Politico interview, he excoriated Karzai for threatening to take Pakistan's side in a hypothetical war with the United States. "Someone senior" in the Afghan government apparently told Fuller that he wanted expensive tanks from the U.S. not to defend his country but to haul out for parades.

"We’re giving them fish while they’re learning, and they want more fish!" Fuller said. "[They say,] ‘I like swordfish, how come you’re giving me cod?’ Guess what? Cod’s on the menu today."

And that was it for Fuller's short tour in Afghanistan. "The Afghan people are an honorable people," Allen continued, "and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission – bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan."

Perhaps Allen had little choice but to fire Fuller. But it's getting conspicuous that a general officer is more likely to get fired for talking reckless to the press than for losing a war. The circumstances of the Afghanistan war, after all, are not fundamentally positive. Training the Afghan security forces is an arduous challenge – most recruits are illiterate – but the $11 billion annual effort has yet to result in a single Afghan battalion fighting independently of its U.S. mentors.

That's not to say that Fuller should have lost his job for his performance in Afghanistan. After all, Fuller just got to Afghanistan in May after running the Army office in charge of modernizing the gear that soldiers take into combat. Just that men and women with stars and their shoulders stand a greater chance of getting cashiered for opining on the wars they wage than their performance waging them.

Getting fired from Afghanistan doesn't necessarily end Fuller's Army career. But that career will be in need of serious rehab if Fuller doesn't opt to retire. All for saying something that a lot of people in the military quietly agree with – even if they know better than to tell it to a journalist.

Photo: U.S. Army