Tokyo, September 20: Japan’s new Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Sunday hinted Japan will offer more development aid to Afghanistan as a substitute for ending its refueling mission to support US-led operations there.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he would end the naval support mission early next year, and his foreign minister Okada reiterated Sunday “we won’t simply extend the mission” beyond January when it expires.
Asked about alternative contributions Japan can make to Afghanistan, Okada said: “If Japan can generate the situation where Taliban soldiers in the frontline would be able to feed their family members and offer education, then the situation in Afghanistan will change.”
“Why the Taliban (movement) proliferates this much? Because there is a significant number of people who work for Taliban to earn money,” he said, referring to the resurgence in Taliban-linked rebels.
“(Japanese) NGOs’ activities in Afghanistan are now at their minimum because of the deterioration in the security situation. The areas where we can send civilians are limited to places where security is guaranteed,” Okada said.
“I’d say (the fresh aid) could be mainly financial,” he added.
The Indian Ocean naval refueling mission — which began in December 2001 and has been periodically renewed since by Japan’s former conservative government — provides fuel and other logistical support to the US-led coalition.
Hatoyama’s centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in opposition had criticised the Japanese government for supporting “American wars,” vowing not to renew the mission.
The DPJ would seek to placate Washington by launching new humanitarian aid projects for Afghanistan instead, media reports have said, with Kyodo News reporting Japan will host an Afghan aid meeting in November.
Hatoyama has a busy week ahead in the United States, where he is due to attend the UN General Assembly and the G20 summit and will meet with President Barack Obama on Wednesday, two weeks after he ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Foreign Minister Okada will also meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
—Agencies