NEW YORK The top US military commander in Afghanistan was summoned to Washington after a magazine portrayed him as dismissive towards some Obama administration officials, according to media reports. An administration official said Tuesday US Army General Stanley McChrystal was called back to Washington to meet President Barack Obama Wednesday to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes in a profile in Rolling Stone magazine that hits the newsstands Friday, The New York Times reported. The story broke in The Washington Post, which received an advance copy of the article. McChrystal was scheduled to attend a monthly meeting on Afghanistan by teleconference, the official said, but was directed to return to Washington after news about the article became public. McChrystal, in a statement issued Tuesday morning, apologised for comments made in the article. I extend my sincerest apology for this profile, he said. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and it should have never happened. Runaway General quotes aides saying McChrystal was pretty disappointed following a meeting with Obama and that he found the President uncomfortable and intimidated during a Pentagon meeting attended by McChrystal and several other generals. However, the article did not reveal any serious policy differences with Obama, who tapped McChrystal last year to assume command, the Times said. The article quoted McChrystal and some of his senior advisers criticising administration officials in sometimes less-than-flattering terms. An anonymous McChrystal aide was quoted calling national security adviser James Jones a clown. One McChrystal aide referred to Richard Holbrooke, Obamas Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumours that hes going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. Aides also were reported dishing dirt on US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, the Post said. Referring to a leaked missive in which Eikenberry expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, McChrystal is quoted as saying, Heres one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so. The magazine story portrays McChrystal as also facing criticism from his own troops who chafe under new rules directing commanders to exercise extreme caution in using lethal force, the Post said. In his statement issued Tuesday, McChrystal says he has enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team. Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honour and professional integrity, he said. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard. Agencies add: The leading military commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday was summoned to the White House to personally explain published remarks to a US magazine in which he and senior aides mock and criticise top American officials - including President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke. Tensions between General Stanley McChrystal and the White House are on full display in the unflattering article in Rolling Stone. Gen McChrystal, a former special operations chief, usually speaks cautiously in public and has enjoyed mostly sympathetic US media coverage since he took over the Nato-led force last year. But the article appears to catch him and his staff in unguarded moments. General McChrystal is reported as visibly exasperated by e-mails he receives from Holbrooke. McChrystal has been directed to attend (Wednesdays) monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in person rather than appear in a secure satellite teleconference to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes in the piece about his colleagues, a White House official told AFP. The criticism of Biden may prove the most troublesome for McChrystal. In the magazine profile McChrystal jokes sarcastically about preparing to answer a question, referring to Vice-President Joe Biden known as a sceptic of the commanders war strategy, and imagined ways of 'dismissing the Vice-President with a good one-liner. McChrystal also told the magazine that he felt 'betrayed by the US Ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, in a White House debate over war strategy last year. And an unnamed McChrystal adviser says in the article that the general came away unimpressed after meeting with Obama in the Oval Office a year ago. It was a 10-minute photo op, the generals adviser says. Obama clearly didnt know anything about him, who he was... he didnt seem very engaged. The boss was pretty disappointed, the adviser added. A McChrystal aide also called the National Security Adviser, Jim Jones, a retired general, a 'clown who is 'stuck in 1985. In the article McChrystal laughed when asked about the Vice-President. 'Are you asking about Vice-President Biden? McChrystal says with a laugh. 'Whos that? the article quotes him as saying. 'Biden? suggests a top adviser. 'Did you say: Bite Me? Referring to a leaked internal memo from Eikenberry that questioned McChrystals request for more troops, the commander suggested the ambassador had tried to protect himself for historys sake. I like Karl, Ive known him for years, but theyd never said anything like that to us before, he said. Heres one that covers his flank for the history books, McChrystal tells Rolling Stone. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so. Eikenberry, himself a former commander in Afghanistan, had written to the White House saying Afghan President Hamid Karzai was an unreliable partner and that a surge of troops could draw the United States into a open-ended quagmire. The article is likely to exacerbate tensions between the US command in Afghanistan and the White House. McChrystal already received a dressing down from Obama after giving a speech last summer in which he appeared to criticise Bidens argument in favour of fewer troops in Afghanistan. As an Afghanistan strategy review was beginning, McChrystal had requested tens of thousands of reinforcements and although Obama in the end granted most of what he had asked for, the strategy review was a difficult time, the general told the magazine. I found that time painful, McChrystal says. I was selling an unsellable position. The profile argued that McChrystal has pushed through his vision of how to fight the war, sidelining White House and State Department heavyweights along the way. His aides are portrayed as intensely loyal to McChrystal while dismissive of the White House and those who question their commanders approach. One unnamed senior military official speculates that yet another surge of US forces could be requested if we see success here. But his own troops voice doubts about the war and new rules limiting the use of force at a meeting with McChrystal at a combat outpost near Kandahar city, according to the magazine. One sergeant tells him: Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think were losing, sir. McChrystal also complains about a dinner with an unnamed French minister during a visit to France in April. In a hotel room in Paris getting ready for a dinner with the French official, McChrystal says: Howd I get screwed into going to this dinner? He also derides the hard-charging top US envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke. Oh, not another email from Holbrooke, McChrystal says, looking at his messages on a mobile phone. I dont even want to open it. The Rolling Stone article, which quoted several McChrystal aides anonymously, portrays a split between the US military and Obamas advisers at an extremely sensitive moment for the Pentagon, which is fending off criticism of its strategy to turn around the nearly nine-year-old Afghan war. McChrystal, a workaholic said to sleep just four hours a day, was brought into Afghanistan a year ago after his predecessor was pushed out. The article portrays his teams as disapproving of the Obama Administration, with the exception of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who backed McCrystals request for additional troops in Afghanistan. The article says that only Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received good reviews from McChrystals inner circle. Some of the strongest criticism was reserved for Richard Holbrooke, Obamas special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.