Japan may provide more aid to Afghanistan
From Washington Post, Japan may provide more aid to Afghanistan
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.
[...] “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.
[...] 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.
Read full report at Washington Post, Japan may provide more aid to Afghanistan
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