Japan ends Afghanistan refuelling mission
JAPAN: Japan on Friday ended a naval refuelling mission that
has supported the US-led military effort in Afghanistan since 2001 as
the centre-left government flexes its muscle in its ties with
Washington.
The move fulfils a pledge by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's
government which ousted the long-ruling conservatives four months ago
pledging a less subservient relationship with the United States.
It comes days before Washington and Tokyo mark the 50th anniversary
of signing their security alliance, which has been strained by a row
over the relocation of a US military base on the southern island of
Okinawa.
Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa ordered the two naval ships and
their 340 personnel to return home after eight years of helping supply
oil and water to vessels used by international forces that are engaged
in Afghanistan. "The defence minister issued an order ... today to the
fleet commander to end refuelling activity in the Indian Ocean at 12:00
p.m. (1500 GMT) on January 15 and to send the troops home," a ministry
statement said. With the end of the refuelling mission, Hatoyama has
pledged that Japan would instead step up humanitarian aid to
Afghanistan. Tokyo has offered five billion dollars over the next five
years to help rebuild the war-torn nation.
Hatoyama, whose coalition includes the strongly pacifist Social
Democrats, has stressed Japan would not deploy troops to Afghanistan.
Under its post-war pacifist constitution, Japan is barred from
sending armed forces overseas for combat, although Tokyo has deployed
soldiers abroad for peacekeeping and military support missions in Iraq
and elsewhere.
Japan's ties with the United States, its closest security ally, have
been strained by the row over the base in Okinawa, an island where more
than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan are stationed. Both countries
agreed in 2006 that the locally unpopular Futenma Marine Corps Air
Station would be moved from a crowded urban area to a quieter coastal
region by 2010, but Hatoyama's government is now reviewing the deal.
TOKYO, Friday, AFP |
