Japan extends Afghanistan naval support mission 26.10.2005 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's parliament on Wednesday voted to extend for another year a naval mission on the Indian Ocean that provides rearguard support for U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan. The law, first passed in November 2001 despite widespread opposition, enabled Japan to send its navy to the area, mainly to help refuel ships, in the first dispatch of its forces to a war situation since World War Two. The legislation also set the stage for a separate, more controversial law allowing the deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq on a reconstruction mission. Parliament's upper house voted to extend the law another year, following a vote by the more powerful lower house earlier this month. A decision on whether to extend the mission of Japan's roughly 600 troops in Iraq, whose mandate expires in December, looms shortly. Domestic media have said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government is likely to extend the Iraq mission at least until early next year, although an opinion poll this month showed that three-quarters of Japanese voters opposed the move. Officials from both the United States and Iraq earlier this week urged Japan to extend the mission. << | >> |
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