WASHINGTON (Kyodo) A top U.S. general expressed hope Tuesday that the Air Self-Defense Force will maintain and expand its airlift support in Iraq even if Japan pulls out its ground troops.
"There will be some decisions made potentially about changing what the (Kuwait-based ASDF) C-130s may be doing," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, deputy director of plans and strategy at U.S. Central Command, said at a Foreign News Center news conference.
"It's our understanding that those contributions will continue into the future, even if, were the decisions made by the government of Japan to bring the troops back," Kimmit said.
The ASDF currently has three C-130 transport planes stationed in Kuwait, mainly to deliver supplies to Ground Self-Defense Force troops involved in noncombat reconstruction work in the southern Iraq city of Samawah.
Government sources have said Washington wants Japan to expand the ASDF mission to include operations such as airlifting U.S. soldiers and supplies to and from U.S. bases in Iraq.