Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday to provide air support for U.N. activities in Iraq, opening the possibility that the Air Self-Defense Force will get a new mission there.

Tokyo is trying to decide when to withdraw its 600 Ground Self-Defense Force troops from the war-torn country as it struggles to establish a government.

But Japan is considering the option of keeping the ASDF unit in Kuwait to signify Japan's continued commitment to rebuilding Iraq.