Obama replaced McChrystal with David Petraeus, the talismanic general who rescued a losing war in Iraq, and who will now be asked to turn around a bloody nine-year conflict on which the commander-in-chief has staked his presidency.

"War is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or a president," Obama said, after sacking McChrystal for mocking senior political leaders in a magazine interview.

The president said his hand was forced by a need to ensure the integrity of civilian control over the military and preserve trust among members of his war cabinet as the interminable conflict grinds on.

McChrystal's swift fall from grace came despite expressions of support from Europe and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.

The furor over the damaging remarks by the general and his staff focused a harsh spotlight on Obama's troop surge strategy as the war reaps an ever bloodier toll and public support for the conflict plummets.

Obama praised his four star general's "remarkable" career, before bluntly saying: "The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general."

McChrystal was ordered back to the White House to be fired, and spent a half hour with Obama, while turning in his resignation.

The president then went into a meeting with senior national security subordinates, and read them the riot act on the war.

"I would describe the president's remarks as stern," a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity. "His overall message was that we have to remember why we are doing this... he did not want to see pettiness."

Obama said unity was vital, as thousands of extra American troops pour into Afghanistan in an effort to finally beat the Taliban and bring stability to a nation hammered by decades of war.

"I've just told my national security team that now is the time for all of us to come together. I welcome debate among my team, but I won't tolerate division."

In a conspicuous show of unity, Obama was surrounded in the White House Rose Garden by Petraeus, Biden, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Petraeus, who saved a failing US mission in Iraq, will step aside as the commander of US forces in the Middle East to take over the faltering NATO-led campaign in Afghanistan.

McChrystal was contrite in a statement issued after he spoke to Obama.

"I strongly support the president's strategy in Afghanistan and am deeply committed to our coalition forces, our partner nations, and the Afghan people," he said.

"It was out of respect for this commitment -- and a desire to see the mission succeed -- that I tendered my resignation."

British Lieutenant General Nick Parker has taken interim command of NATO's Afghan forces in McChrystal's absence, Downing Street and White House officials said.

Some NATO nations with troops in the US-led Afghan force fretted that the episode sent an unwelcome signal to US enemies.

German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told German television that NATO forces were facing a "very tough summer" and that the alliance needed steady leadership.

In Kabul, Waheed Omar, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said his boss respected the decision and praised the choice of Petraeus, who must be confirmed by the US Senate.

"General David Petraeus is someone who knows Afghanistan, who knows the region very well and is an experienced general," Omar told AFP.

The uproar comes at a pivotal moment in the Afghan war with US lawmakers increasingly anxious that the mission is failing amid delays in a make-or-break offensive to drive the Taliban out of their Kandahar stronghold.

The clock is also ticking on a White House deadline to start withdrawing some US troops by July 2011, and Obama had been under pressure from certain quarters to keep McChrystal so as not to throw this timeline off course.

In Rolling Stone's profile, titled "The Runaway General," McChrystal aides mocked Biden, dismissed Obama's national security adviser as "a clown," and revealed that McChrystal was "disappointed" by his first meeting with Obama.

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