Japan for Afghan Withdrawal

           Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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NATO chief terrorist of international forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal is pestering USA and other terror allies to supply more troops for terror action in Afghanistan so that most of Afghans could be massacred and final victory is declared. US President Barack Obama is reluctant currently to consider the terror request of McChrystal up to 40,000 more international troops to build on the tragic progress of this summer's another notorious Operation Panther's Claw. So far none of the NATO members has sent any extra state terror to Afghanistan and not many have made even any vague commitment for that, except UK premier Brown who is one of unhappiest men in the world today much worried about losing his high table in London. The obvious reason is the clear acknowledgement of the NATO terror wars being illegal and constructed just on forged cluesand fictitious pretexts. The ill-motivated global media campaigns against Islamic and Arab world have forced the Bushdom Pentagon rogues to invade and terror attack Afghanistan. Obviously, energy resources and routes have made the Neocon rogues mastermind the Sept11 with assitanc3 form Mossad-CIA etc.

Even as the move for compromises on Afghan withdrawal commitments are going on among the 42 plus rogue states occupying sovereign Afghanistan, Japan has announced a decision to withdraw troops form Afghanistan. Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has said Japan will end its refueling mission in support of the US-led military operation in Afghanistan. Kitazawa said the mission would end "based on the law" when its current legal mandate expires in January. But he suggested Japan, as a terror ally of US-led NATO, could continue to provide support for the mission in an alternative form.

Hatoyama's recent electoral win ended 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, world took his world quite seriously. Days before his landslide election win, Yukio Hatoyama ruffled feathers in Washington by seeking to pursue an independent foreign policy. Hitting out at US-led globalization, he stressed that many Asian nations wanted to see America's "political and economic excesses" restrained. US military might was key to regional stability, but stronger ties with regional neighbors were also needed to safeguard Japan's interests. Later, however, fearing US opposition to its possible UNSC vetoship, Hatoyama said its anti-American tone was the product of unsympathetic media editing. And he has certainly worked hard since then to reassure US leaders that the bilateral relationship is his top priority. Building trust Hatoyama has also called for better ties with East Asian neighbors. Nonetheless, questions are being asked about what Japan's historic change of government might mean for its global ties.

Japan's government won August elections on pledges to pursue a foreign policy with greater independence from the US. The eight-year-old Afghan support mission - which provides fuel and logistical support for US forces in the Indian Ocean - has long been contentious. It is the clearest indication so far that the new government will end the mission in its current form, though many Japanese say Japan's overall commitment to the US-led Afghan operation remains unclear. The government has suggested it could provide alternative support to civilian operations in Afghanistan - a possibility also mooted by Washington's ambassador to Japan earlier this month. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said that ministers were still arriving at their "final political decision" on what was best for the region. He said the government was keen to formulate "some concrete, comprehensive idea" by the time US President Barack Obama visits Japan in a month's time.

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The Japan-US alliance has underwritten stability in North East Asia for more than half a century. Japan - banned from retaining "war potential" by its pacifist constitution - subsidizes a US troop presence. In return the US assumes responsibility for Japan's security. The majority of the Japanese public does not support the status quo, despite localized tensions over US bases. Yet there is concern that reliance on the US is both forcing involvement - albeit on a very small scale - in US-led conflicts and having too great an impact on taxpayers. On the campaign trail, Hatoyama took aim at these concerns, promising a more "autonomous" foreign strategy based on "equal" ties with the US. He and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) promised to end a highly contentious refueling mission supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan. He also pledged to re-examine both the conditions under which Japan hosts US troops and a 2006 realignment deal that would see Japan fund a replacement base in Okinawa and the transfer of 8,000 US marines to Guam.

The USA voiced swift opposition to Japan’s self-assertiveness. Washington had "no intention of renegotiating" the deal, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said a day after the election. A Pentagon spokesman later urged Japan to fulfill its "international responsibility" by continuing the Afghan mission. The Democrats' aim to reduce the cost of hosting US troops will be a problem, because it conflicts with Japan's ongoing need to incentivise their presence. And he questions whether talk of "equality" with Washington is realistic - particularly given concerns over North Korea's nuclear belligerence and China's military build-up. Japan is not a nuclear nation and the nuclear umbrella can be provided only by the United States, so Japan cannot claim equal status. US strategists say Hatoyama needs to explain what he means by an equal relationship. "If it means being proactive and sharing ideas with Washington about how they see the relationship evolving, that would be very welcome. But merely articulating grievances is not enough to jump-start the relationship for the future," a specialist said.

Japan is also trying bridge the gap with China. In the past historical rows - most notably over lawmakers' visits to the World War II-linked Yasukuni shrine - harmed relations. Territorial disputes, competition over resources and Japanese concern over Chinese food safety have also hampered co-operation.  Hatoyama says he will not visit the Yasukuni shrine and his foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, has gone further, saying Japan must come to grips with its "wretched, foolish war". The DPJ promises instead to build "relations of mutual trust" - potentially improving regional cohesion over North Korea - and expand co-operation in trade, energy and environment sectors. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has welcomed what he called the DPJ's "positive attitude", and the South Korean government has sounded a similarly upbeat post-election note.

Perhaps, as a strategy win back the Englishmen toward the Labour Party and to woo other NATO rogues and bully them into sending more troops, UK has “promised” add some more troops to NATO terror gangs occupying Afghanistan. Britain is the closest terror ally of USA and British forces have been in Afghanistan since October 2001. More than two-thirds are stationed in the southern province of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold. In order to boost the standing of the labour party, an almost beaten up and fallen UK premier Gordon Brown is expected to announce that Britain is to send an extra 500 military personnel to Afghanistan but with some caveats. The UK has about 9,000 soldiers in the country, the second-largest contingent after the US, but there have been calls for increases in NATO troop levels. To date, there have been 221 deaths among UK forces there and the PM has faced some calls to bring troops home.

The UK opposition Liberal Democrats have claimed the Afghan mission is "failing" and called for a new strategy and "a political surge" rather than more troops. The question of troop numbers in Afghanistan has become highly politicized in recent months. The ex-head of the Army, Sir Richard Dannatt, has claimed that No 10 turned down a request to send up to 2,000 more troops earlier this year - a suggestion Downing Street has denied.

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There has been stiff competition among USA, China and Japan over supremacy in East Asia and its various economic and military forums. Both Japan and China have effectively sidelined USA by using the terror war climate with which Americans are fully immersed and try to accommodate India,  an emerging self-styled “super power” of South Asia. Obviously, USA cannot digest this insult as easily as its opponents desire. But USa is using Asean forum to control the East Asians. Many expect to see smoother, calmer diplomatic ties with Japan's Asian giant-neighbors. Japan would work on trying to enhance relations with China, but does this mean they will move away from America? Japan feels the US would have to welcome any initiative by Japan to reach out to its neighbours. It implies that doing so could be at the expense of US-Japan relations or US-China ties- but these two things are not mutually exclusive, either.

Japan's involvement in the mission violates the nation's pacifist constitution, which strictly limits its military activities. Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told reporters in Islamabad that it would be "difficult" to extend the mission. Kitazawa said Japan had "no plans" to propose an extension to the mission in the Japanese parliament. While one does not expect any major change overnight as a result of the new government, a "shaking of the foundation that has sustained the alliance" between the US and Japan is likely.

Domestic concerns Hatoyama had a chance to discuss his plans at the highest levels recently, when he met the US and Chinese leaders at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. But he also has a number of serious domestic challenges to address, which will push foreign affairs down the agenda. In the DPJ's manifesto, more than 40 pages of plans for dealing with the faltering economy, low birth-rate and over-burdened social security net precede the three-page foreign policy section. The DPJ needs to deliver on the economy. Many think foreign policy is the third priority given the broad political spectrum from which its lawmakers originate; the DPJ's foreign policy will end up as a compromise. The DPJ has grown out of different parties and the people they have taken on have different opinions. Some want more and some want less - so they will end up in the middle ground.   Hatoyama seems to take his own position in favor of humanity, because the Japanese are the first target during WW-II of the imperialist forces led by the USA.   

Japan supports military terror operations in Afghanistan from the Indian Ocean. One does not quite decode the latest move in Tokyo to withdraw all its terror troops deployed in Afghanistan sooner than later. NATO defence ministers are likely to discuss troop reinforcements at an informal meeting in Slovakia next week. 

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Specialist on State Terrorism

Independent Columnist in International Affairs, Research Scholar (JNU) & the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.