NATO Wants Japan Afghan Efforts Resumed

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NATO Wants Japan Afghan Efforts Resumed
Agence France-Presse | December 13, 2007

The head of NATO called Dec. 13 for Japan's support for efforts to quell insurgency in Afghanistan amid intense debate in this pacifist nation about how to contribute to global security.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged closer ties between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Japan, the world's second largest economy.

His visit comes as Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda struggles to push through legislation to resume an Indian Ocean naval refuelling mission in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan.

"I would hope that Japan... has not yet reached the limit of its possibilities in the political sense of participating in the actual operations in Afghanistan," Scheffer said in a speech in Tokyo.

Fukuda's government was forced to call home the ships last month after the opposition, which controls one house of parliament, refused to support an extension of the mandate authorising the mission.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,158157,00.html