The Cabinet on Friday approved a two-year extension of the Air Self-Defense Force deployment to Kuwait to provide airlift support to U.N. and multinational forces in Iraq, but the Democratic Party of Japan plans to challenge the move with a counterproposal for a pullout.
"A two-year extension is necessary to continue stable airlift support," Foreign Minister Taro Aso said in a statement issued after the endorsement, adding the mission serves Japan's national interest to respond to requests in U.N. resolutions to support Iraq's reconstruction.
Japan is among the staunchest supporters of the United States, its closest ally, in the war in Iraq. Tokyo previously sent Ground Self-Defense Force troops on an aid mission in southern Iraq as well as the ASDF Kuwait dispatch. The troops were pulled out last summer but the air operations have been expanded.