The Hill News

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said he still talks with his controversial predecessor, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal. 

McChrystal was forced to resign his post as Afghan commander in June after he and members of his staff made derisive comments about President Obama and some officials on his national security team. McChrystal retired from the U.S. Army in July.

{mosads}In an interview with ABC News to air Tuesday night, Petraeus praised McChrystal's leadership and said he is pleased that the former general took a teaching position at Yale University.

"I ! actually e-mail him. A fair amount. In fact, my wife was just out for dinner with his wife â€" the other day. I've been very pleased to see that â€" there really have been some wonderful opportunities â€" made available to him," said Petraeus. "I'm very pleased to see the transition that he has had, frankly. He is a great soldier. He's a great warrior."

Before McChrystal was forced to end his career on a sour note, he was known as a close adherent to the counterinsurgency principles that Petraeus implemented during the 2007 Iraq troop surge as commanding general there. Both men had a close relationship â€" McChrystal served under Petraeus's command as a top general in Iraq.

"The nation is only now learning what he and his forces did to help us so significantly in Iraq," Petraeus said. "During the surge, and â€" when I talked earlier about getting the inputs right â€"there's no one who played a more central role, more significant role in that process â€" ! than did General Stan McChrystal."

Petraeus joked in the! intervi ew that McChrystal's new job of teaching a leadership course would have "been better at Princeton," where the former earned his Ph.D., but Petraeus still said that the move was a "terrific" one for McChrystal.