Four Romanian soldiers, members of the Operating Battalion #2 “Yellow Scorpions” were wounded on Sunday in Afghanistan, after the armoured truck carrying them was overturned. According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the four soldiers were patrolling the area in Zabul province, when one of the car tyres exploded and the vehicle overturned. The health condition of the four, three men and one woman, is now stable. This is the first time that a Romanian woman military taking part in military operations in Afghanistan is wounded during a mission. In the 11 years since Romania has been taking part in military operations in Afghanistan 22 soldiers have been killed and another 100 have been wounded.

Romanian State Secretary for Strategic Affairs Bogdan Aurescu on Sunday dismissed the statement of influential US strategist George Friedman, according to whom Romania would have no need of the anti-missile shield. The Romanian official said most assessments of international experts show that the risk of a missile attack from the Middle East or on behalf of foreign or domestic terrorists has gone up. In that context the deployment of the shield would result in lowering this risk. Moreover, as a NATO member state, Romania is bound by the collective security clause under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty to defend any Allied state under attack as if it were under attack itself. We recall that interceptors of the NATO anti-ballistic shield will be deployed in Deveselu, southern Romania.

A meeting of the Nabucco Committee, the body currently coordinating states and businesses involved in the development of the Nabucco gas pipeline and which seeks the implementation of this important regional energy project, is due to take place in Bucharest on Tuesday. Attending the event will be high-ranking officials from Romania, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey and representatives of Nabucco shareholders and other international financial institutions. According to a press release made public by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the event is aimed at highlighting the regional importance of the Nabucco project, one which is best suited to increase the energy security of central and south-eastern European markets. The Nabucco project seeks to access natural gas in phase two of exploitation operations at the Shah Deniz gas deposit in Azerbaijan and making it available to European markets.