Japan may provide more aid to Afghanistan

By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO – Tokyo is considering sending more financial aid to Afghanistan after its current naval refueling mission supporting the U.S.-led coalition ends next January, but has no intention of sending ground troops to the region, Japan's new foreign minister said Sunday.

Japan has long been one of Washington's closest allies, but a new government that took power last week has said it wants to reframe its relations with the U.S. and will not extend the refueling operations in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The U.S. is boosting troop levels in Afghanistan even as international support for the coalition wanes, and is loathe to lose the backing of an ally.

Japan's pacifist constitution prohibits offensive military operations, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said it is too dangerous to send aid workers to the area.

"In the current situation we can't guarantee the safety of our civilians, so it may be the case that we provide funding instead," Okada said in an interview on TV Asahi.

He repeated Japan's stance that there would be no "simple extension" of the refueling mission, and said it was unlikely that Japan would send troops, even for a noncombat role as it did in Iraq.

Okada made the comments a day before he is to travel to the United States to meet Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the first time on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also will go to the U.S. for the U.N. meeting and the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, and is to meet President Barack Obama.

The new government in Tokyo swept to power in national elections last month, and in the campaign was critical of what it saw as Japan's unwavering military and diplomatic support for the U.S. in the past.

The Liberal Democratic Party, which it forced from power, ruled Japan for half a century with almost no interruption, during which it maintained close ties with Washington.

Kyodo News agency has reported that Japan is planning a conference in Tokyo in November on achieving peace in Afghanistan to which high-level representatives from the U.S. and Europe will be invited.

Tokyo is currently providing hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid to Afghanistan for areas such as managing elections, counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance, according to the Foreign Ministry.