Japan Ends Afghan Naval Mission

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
November 2, 2007 By Norimitsu Onishi
TOKYO, Nov. 1 — Japan’s Defense Ministry ordered home its naval ships from the Indian Ocean on Thursday, ending for now a six-year mission in support of the war in Afghanistan that raised the nation’s military presence overseas but has recently drawn increasing criticism domestically.
A destroyer and supply ship that had been refueling warships for the United States and other nations were recalled at 3 p.m. as a special law authorizing the mission was to expire at midnight. The government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was unable to renew the law immediately because of opposition from the Democratic Party, which seized control of Parliament’s upper house in a landslide election victory during the summer.
The United States had urged Japan to extend the refueling mission which, while largely symbolic, provided important diplomatic support. The mission — based on a “special antiterrorism law” — constituted pacifist Japan’s main contribution to the Bush administration’s campaign against terrorism.
Mr. Fukuda’s government has introduced a new refueling bill in Parliament and could yet use its control of the lower house to override the opposition and begin the mission again.
“To eradicate terrorism in solidarity with the international community, our country must fulfill its responsibility by continuing the refueling mission by all means,” Mr. Fukuda said in a statement.
But even if the government succeeded with that strategy — a potentially unpopular one, given that the public is divided over the naval deployment — the refueling mission would not resume for several months.
The law’s expiration underscored the current political deadlock in Japan. The governing Liberal Democratic Party suffered a devastating loss over the summer because of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s mishandling of bread-and-butter issues. His subsequent abrupt resignation on Sept. 12 created a political vacuum that made it impossible to renew the special law before the Nov. 1 deadline.
Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, has vowed to use his grip on the upper house to force Mr. Fukuda to dissolve the lower house and call a general election. Mr. Fukuda does not have to call a general election for two more years, but the opposition can effectively shut down the government by blocking major bills.
While the refueling mission has become tied up in electoral politics, the objections also reflect a deeper disagreement over foreign policy. This time the debate has not been over whether Japan should participate in overseas missions, but how.
Mr. Ozawa, who has long advocated dispatching Japanese troops overseas, has argued that Japan should not unilaterally back the United States.
He believes that the Afghanistan mission violated Japan’s pacifist Constitution. But he has said that Japan should send ground peacekeeping troops to Sudan or even Afghanistan as long as they are deployed under the United Nations umbrella.
Support for the Afghanistan mission suffered from public opposition to the war in Iraq and public unease about the government’s unwavering backing of the Bush administration.
That unease was heightened over the government’s inability to refute claims that the fuel intended for the war in Afghanistan has been diverted to Iraq.
“This mission of the last six years is coming to an end just as we were starting discussions on its nature and significance,” said Naoto Kan, the acting president of the opposition Democratic Party.
Through August, Japan had provided more than $190 million in fuel to warships from 11 countries, with nearly 80 percent of the total going to American ships, according to the Defense Ministry.
 
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