WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The United States has asked Japan to consider transferring senior officers to Basra, Iraq, after the Ground Self-Defense Force pulls out of Samawah, diplomatic sources said Sunday.
Washington has been proposing since last fall that the GSDF troops participate in U.S. provincial reconstruction teams, but this is the first time a specific city has been cited.
Japan has remained reluctant, at least in part because working in such teams is not included in the special law that allowed the GSDF to go to Iraq, senior officials at the Defense Agency said.