APSNet 15 February 2010

1. 101st Australian soldier wounded
2. Japan, Australia to sign military logistics pact
3. Two subs out of action for 9 years
4. Insider reveals how Defence massages the message from Iraq and Afghanistan
5. Raid on Taliban stronghold of Marjah a ‘success’
6. Obama’s secret prisons
7. Ministers clash over Nato Afghanistan letter
8. RI tells Iran to uphold commitment

1. 101st Australian soldier wounded, Tom Hyland, Age, 2010-02-14

Australian forces in Afghanistan have reached a grim milestone, with the wounding of two soldiers bringing to 101 the number of Australians wounded since they were first sent to the conflict in 2001. The two were injured – one seriously – when Australian troops were hit in three separate roadside bomb attacks. All the incidents happened in the Mirabad Valley, north-east of the main Australian base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan province.

• Casualties – ADF, Australia in Afghanistan, Nautilus Institute

2. Japan, Australia to sign military logistics pact, Nikkei, 201o-02-13

Japan and Australia have informally agreed to adopt a framework that would enable Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and Australian military forces to provide food, fuel and other logistical support to each other during peacekeeping operations, disaster-relief missions and other activities. This would be Japan’s second Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, after the one signed with the U.S. in 1996.

• Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), GlobalSecurity.org
• The Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and Asia-Pacific Strategic Geometries, William T Tow, Nautilus Institute, 2007-09-06
• The new security architecture: Binding Japan and Australia, containing China, Richard Tanter, Nautilus Institute, 2007-03-15

3. Two subs out of action for 9 years, Dan Oakes, Age, 2010-02-11

Two of Australia’s six trouble-racked Collins class submarines will be out of action for a combined total of at least nine years. It was also revealed that the Federal Government is demanding $5 million in compensation from the Australian Submarine Corporation over defects that have kept HMAS Collins incapacitated.

4. Insider reveals how Defence massages the message from Iraq and Afghanistan, Nick McKenzie and Rafael Epstein, Age, 2010-02-12

A senior Australian Army media adviser who served in Afghanistan and Iraq has revealed that a culture of excessive spin and unnecessary secrecy stopped important information reaching the public. Andrew Bird, who left the army in December after eight years as an information operations and media adviser, said Defence obscured or painted an overly rosy picture of war in places such as Afghanistan.

• Mendicants and manipulators: the ADF, the media and the reporting of Australia’s war in Afghanistan, Kevin Foster, Nautilus Institute, 2009-09-10

5. Raid on Taliban stronghold of Marjah a ‘success’, AFP, AP, Australian, 2010-02-15

NATO commanders declared the start of a major US-led offensive against a key Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan a success, as the operation entered its second day. About 15,000 US, British and Afghan soldiers stormed the Islamist stronghold in NATO’s biggest operation since overthrowing the Taliban regime in 2001.

• Afghanistan: propaganda of the deed, Paul Rogers, Open Democracy, 2010-02-11
• Taliban vow guerrilla warfare against NATO troops, Sardar Ahmad, AFP, 2010-02-12
• Errant U.S. rocket strike kills civilians in Afghanistan, C. J. Chivers and Rod Nordland, NYT, 2010-02-14

6. Obama’s secret prisons, Anand Gopal, TomDispatch.com, 2010-01-28

The U.S. detentions detention process has shifted almost entirely to areas and actors that can best avoid public scrutiny: Special Operations Forces and small field prisons. The shift signals a deeper reality of war, American soldiers say: you can’t fight guerrillas without invasive raids and detentions, any more than you could fight them without bullets.

7. Ministers clash over Nato Afghanistan letter, Dutch News, 2010-02-12

Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen and deputy prime minister Wouter Bos appear to be heading for a showdown over Nato’s call for the Netherlands to stay longer in Afghanistan. Bos, who is leader of the Labour party, has said the rest of the cabinet had been told they could not count on Labour support for an extension to the Dutch mission.  That same evening, Nato made a written plea for the Netherlands to stay on in Afghanistan and train local troops. Verhagen had asked Nato to send a formal request.

• Nato troop request sparks political row, NRC Handelsblad, 2010-02-12
• Letter from NATO Secretary General to Dutch PM, 2010-02-04 [PDF, 114KB]
• Coalition forces – Netherlands, Australia in Afghanistan, Nautilus

8. RI tells Iran to uphold commitment, Lilian Budianto, Jakarta Post,  2010-02-13

Indonesia supports Iran’s right to develop its nuclear program for peaceful purposes but asks the Islamic republic to uphold the commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. “Commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and the right to obtain nuclear power for peaceful purposes go hand in hand. You cannot take one and exclude the other. They are integrated responsibilities and rights, not one at the expense of another,” Foreign Minister Marty 

• Practicality may pave the way for nuclear power in Indonesia, Ismira Lutfia and Anita Rachman, Jakarta Globe, 2010-02-12