President Barack Obama said Tuesday that General John Allen will retire instead of accepting the top job at Nato, as he seeks to take care of his family after a 19-month tour in Afghanistan.

Speculation had been rife for weeks that Allen, who led the war effort in Afghanistan for 19 months, would not take up Obama's offer to serve as the alliance's supreme commander, even after he was cleared of wrongdoing in a drama over emails to a Florida socialite.
"Today, I met with General John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family," Obama said in a written statement.

Allen recently returned from his post as the top commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan and had asked for more time to think over his future.Obama praised the Marine Corps general for presiding over "significant growth" in Afghanistan's security forces and a "further degradation" of Al-Qaeda."Above all, he cares deeply for the men and women in uniform who serve our nation - as well as their families - and I am grateful for the sacrifices made by his family in supporting him during his service," Obama said.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit nine countries in Europe and the Middle East starting Sunday as he undertakes his first foreign trip as top diplomat, the State Department said Tuesday.Kerry will visit Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar through March 6, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the ability of police to detain a suspect who has left a site that officers have come to search, even if they find potentially incriminating evidence.The case involves Chunon Bailey, a man from Long Island, New York who was sentenced to 30 years in prison on drug and weapons charges.Police had Bailey's apartment under surveillance, and followed Bailey on July 28, 2005 when he left the apartment.

Officers detained him about a mile from his residence and interrogated for ten minutes while fellow officers searched his home, where they found weapons, ammunition and drugs.Bailey was then arrested, and later sentenced to 30 years prison.Attorneys for Bailey argue that police violated their client's rights under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In a six-three decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Bailey "posed little risk to the officers at the scene after he left the premises, apparently without knowledge of the search."Had Bailey returned, "he could have been apprehended and detained," read the ruling.

In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled in Michigan v. Summers that police could detain people without suspicion during a search in order to prevent them from harming officers.In that case the justices held that detention is not justified "beyond the immediate vicinity of the premises to be searched."