The top US military commander in Afghanistan is expected to learn his fate on Wednesday after being summoned by President Barack Obama to explain his criticism of leading officials.
Gen Stanley McChrystal and Mr Obama both said the statements in Rolling Stone magazine showed "poor judgement".
Gen McChrystal is expected to have a one-on-one meeting with Mr Obama.
He will also face a number of those he criticised at the monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has again indicated he does not want Gen McChrystal replaced.
'Enormous mistake'
Gen McChrystal arrived back in Washington in the early hours local time.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan meeting is scheduled for late morning Washington time and it is not clear whether the one-to-one meeting will be before or after that.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says Gen McChrystal has been meeting Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Gen McChrystal quickly apologised for the magazine article, The Runaway General, written by Michael Hastings and due out on Friday, extending his "sincerest apology" and saying it showed a lack of integrity.
"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and should never have happened," he said.
President Obama said on Tuesday he wanted to talk with the general in person before deciding what action to take.
US media reports said Gen McChrystal had submitted his resignation, but it was up to the president to decide whether to accept it. There has been no official comment on the reports.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president was "angry" and that Gen McChrystal had made "an enormous mistake".
Mr Gibbs said "all options were on the table" regarding the fate of the general and wondered "what in the world was he thinking?"
Some experts suggest Mr Gibbs's harsh words were to make the president look tough and give him the option of keeping the general on after a warning.
However, some lawmakers have called for Gen McChrystal to quit.
Our correspondent, Kim Ghattas, says President Obama will have to choose between continuity in leadership in Afghanistan at a crucial time, and a unified leadership which shows him respect as commander-in-chief.
At the White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gen McChrystal is expected to face:
Joe Biden. Gen McChrystal had mocked the vice-president when asked a question about him. "Are you asking about Vice-President Biden? Who's that?"
Karl Eikenberry. Gen McChrystal said he felt "betrayed" by the US ambassador to Kabul during the long 2009 White House debate on troop requests for Afghanistan
James Jones. One of Gen McChrystal's aides says the national security adviser is a "clown stuck in 1985"
Richard Holbrooke. Gen McChrystal says of an e-mail from the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan: "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke... I don't even want to open it"
The article also appeared to be critical of the president himself.
Referring to a key Oval Office meeting with Mr Obama a year ago, an aide of Gen McChrystal says it was "a 10-minute photo-op".
"Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was... he didn't seem very engaged. The boss was pretty disappointed," the aide says.
In his first comments on the issue on Tuesday, President Obama said: "I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed... poor judgement."
Reduced casualties
Duncan Boothby, a special assistant to Gen McChrystal who organised the Rolling Stone journalist's access to the commander, has resigned as a result of the article.
A spokesman for the Taliban said Gen McChrystal's recall was another sign of the start of the "political defeat" for US policies in Afghanistan.
But a spokesman for Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday that the Afghan leader believed replacing Gen McChrystal "would not be helpful" for peace and stability.
The spokesman, Waheed Omar, said: "We hope there is not a change of leadership of the international forces here in Afghanistan and that we continue to partner with Gen McChrystal."
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Afghanistan says there is a belief among Afghan officials that Gen McChrystal has brought real improvement on reducing civilian casualties caused by the coalition - they are down 44% so far this year.
