By Kelly Twedell

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) - A judge on Thursday reprimanded a U.S. Army general who pleaded guilty to mistreating a captain during an adulterous sexual affair and ordered him to forfeit $20,000 in pay over four months.

The sentence for Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair did not call for any jail time, reduced rank or dismissal from the Army for his military crimes.

The one-star general admitted to various offenses this week in a plea deal that dropped sexual assault charges involving the female captain, who said Sinclair forced her to perform oral sex when she tried to break off their illicit liaison.

Sinclair, 51, pleaded guilty to having inappropriate relationships with junior female officers, possessing pornography on his laptop while deployed in Afghanistan, misusing his government credit card to visit his mistress and using derogatory language to refer to female officers.

The rare court-martial of a general has drawn wide attention at a time when the U.S. military faces intense political scrutiny as it works to curb sexual misconduct in the ranks.

Government prosecutors on Wednesday had asked the trial judge, Colonel James Pohl, to dismiss Sinclair from the Army for the harm caused by his criminal acts. They said he abused his power to exploit women.

The defense team said Sinclair should be allowed to retire at a reduced rank given testimony about his otherwise stellar military record and 27 years of service.

(Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Scott Malone, Stephen Powell and James Dalgleish)