Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Japan Times
June 14, 2008 By Kyodo News
Japan on Friday extended its Kuwait-Iraq airlift mission and refueling mission in the Indian Ocean until July and January 2009, respectively, citing the need to provide continued assistance in the reconstruction of Iraq as well as U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's Cabinet endorsed the plan to extend the missions in Iraq and the Indian Ocean as the special temporary program for each mission expires on July 31 and June 30, respectively.
Air Self-Defense Force elements based in Kuwait are airlifting troops and materials for the United Nations, as well as U.S.-led multinational forces, to Iraq, Defense Ministry officials said.
The ASDF transported 597 tons of materials in 721 separate missions between March 2004, when it started the operation, and this June.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a regular press conference, "I believe the situation (in Iraq) is improving gradually, but we've decided on the extension because we think that, at the current moment, there is still a great need for the U.N. multinational forces to engage in activities."
Meanwhile, Machimura was cautious about whether Japan might have to end the airlift mission after a U.N. Security Council resolution, which authorizes the current deployment of multinational forces to Iraq, expires at the end of this year.
"Maybe a new resolution will be issued, so to say at this moment that the mission will come to an end just because the resolution will expire at the end of December is an oversimplification. We need to observe carefully how things develop," the top government spokesman said.
In the Indian Ocean, the Maritime Self-Defense Force is refueling vessels from seven countries involved in the crackdown on ships suspected of having links to terrorists in the region, they said.
The MSDF provided vessels from seven countries, including the United States and Pakistan, with 4,000 kiloliters of fuel on 21 occasions since it resumed the mission in February to the end of May.
June 14, 2008 By Kyodo News
Japan on Friday extended its Kuwait-Iraq airlift mission and refueling mission in the Indian Ocean until July and January 2009, respectively, citing the need to provide continued assistance in the reconstruction of Iraq as well as U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's Cabinet endorsed the plan to extend the missions in Iraq and the Indian Ocean as the special temporary program for each mission expires on July 31 and June 30, respectively.
Air Self-Defense Force elements based in Kuwait are airlifting troops and materials for the United Nations, as well as U.S.-led multinational forces, to Iraq, Defense Ministry officials said.
The ASDF transported 597 tons of materials in 721 separate missions between March 2004, when it started the operation, and this June.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a regular press conference, "I believe the situation (in Iraq) is improving gradually, but we've decided on the extension because we think that, at the current moment, there is still a great need for the U.N. multinational forces to engage in activities."
Meanwhile, Machimura was cautious about whether Japan might have to end the airlift mission after a U.N. Security Council resolution, which authorizes the current deployment of multinational forces to Iraq, expires at the end of this year.
"Maybe a new resolution will be issued, so to say at this moment that the mission will come to an end just because the resolution will expire at the end of December is an oversimplification. We need to observe carefully how things develop," the top government spokesman said.
In the Indian Ocean, the Maritime Self-Defense Force is refueling vessels from seven countries involved in the crackdown on ships suspected of having links to terrorists in the region, they said.
The MSDF provided vessels from seven countries, including the United States and Pakistan, with 4,000 kiloliters of fuel on 21 occasions since it resumed the mission in February to the end of May.