O 170714Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1028
INFO NATO EU COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
AMCONSUL MELBOURNE IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL PERTH IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL SYDNEY IMMEDIATE 
NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000156 
 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR SCA, EUR, EEB AND EAP 
NSC FOR GEN. JONES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2019 
TAGS: PREL PARM EFIN MARR AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA: PM'S ADVISOR ON AFHANISTAN-PAKISTAN 
REVIEW, NATO SUMMIT AND G-20 SUMMIT 
 
REF: STATE 14097 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Daniel A. Clune. Reasons: 1.4 (b)(d). 
 
SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) In response to the U.S. invitation to contribute ideas 
to the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategic policy review, Prime 
Minister Rudd's senior international adviser said Australia 
has been hard at work on its own review and believes the U.S. 
and Australian efforts can complement one another.  On other 
topics, Prime Minister Rudd remains intent on seeking an ISAF 
leaders meeting at the NATO Summit, and hopes the United 
States can weigh in to ensure it is on the agenda.  Prime 
Minister Rudd is also focused strongly on developing ideas 
and a package of options for the April 2 G-20 Summit.  End 
Summary. 
 
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN POLICY REVIEW 
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¶2. (C) Charge briefed Gary Quinlan, Senior Adviser for 
International Affairs to Prime Minister Rudd, on details of 
the Administration's comprehensive strategic review in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan on February 17, drawing on points in 
reftel.  In soliticing views on goals, strategies, actions 
and resources, Charge stressed that this would meet 
Australia's long-standing request for advance consultations 
and input into the planning process in the region.  He urged 
the Australian government to move quickly, noting the review 
chairs would welcome a well-reasoned paper on the topic. 
 
¶3. (C) Quinlan welcomed the points and said the GOA had 
undertaken its own strategic review of Afghanistan, in 
anticipation of engaging with the new U.S. Administration on 
the topic and in advance of the NATO Summit, and was nearing 
completion of a draft paper.  Duncan Lewis, National Security 
Adviser, was coordinating the review.  (Charge is scheduled 
to meet Lewis February 18 to deliver reftel points.)  Quinlan 
said the National Security Committee of Cabinet planned to 
meet in March to review Australia's overall commitment to 
Afghanistan, including possible new contributions.  On a side 
note, he added, the NSC would likely take up for discussion 
at its next meeting an analytical paper on the issue of 
political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and how this fits 
with the overall approach.  He was quick to note that the GOA 
took no position on reconciliation. 
 
NATO SUMMIT 
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¶4. (C) Quinlan reprised Prime Minister Rudd's strongly-held 
position that the April 3-4 NATO Summit should include a 
separate ISAF leaders meeting.  Rudd points to the summit at 
Bucharest one year ago as an important precedent in this 
regard, and believes it would be a mistake to push it down to 
the foreign/defense minister and military command levels, 
which already have regular meetings on Afghanistan.  Most 
important to Rudd, Quinlan emphasized, was the domestic 
political context; he needed to demonstrate to the Australian 
people, a majority of whom now opposed military involvement 
in Afghanistan, the importance of maintaining their 
commitment, which meant leader-level engagement.  Public 
support would be necessary if Australia were to increase its 
contribution, he argued.   Rudd had recently written to 
French President Sarkhozy, German Chancellor Merkel and UK 
Prime Minister Brown to stress this point. He added 
Ambassador Richardson had taken heart from a comment by NSA 
QAmbassador Richardson had taken heart from a comment by NSA 
Gen. Jones that it had been "sorted out," suggesting an ISAF 
session was still possible at the Summit.  Rudd was concerned 
that time was running out to try to ensure the Summit took up 
ISAF; U.S. support with other NATO members was therefore 
critical.  The Dutch had suggested trying to organize a 
separate ISAF session for leaders in the Netherlands, but 
with so little time that was not a viable option.  Quinlan 
said PM Rudd may write to President Obama overnight on the 
issue. 
 
G-20 
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¶5. (C) Turning to economic matters, Quinlan said the Prime 
Minister had turned from the recent bushfire emergency, which 
had killed 189 people in Victoria, to concentrate almost 
fully on the global economic crisis.  He had commissioned a 
paper to focus on ideas to manage the crisis and develop a 
package of options for the April 2 G-20 Summit, drawing ideas 
from Treasury Secretary Geithner's recent financial 
stabilization plan.  The paper would address problems of 
recapitalization, distressed assets and restoring the flow of 
credit flow, among other topics. 
 
CLUNE