ISLAMABAD (Kyodo) Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada vowed to step up support, notably in electric power supply and economic areas, to stabilize the situation in Pakistan as he met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
The two did not discuss Japan's plan to end the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, but Okada told his Pakistani counterpart, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in separate talks that it is difficult to "simply" extend the mission beyond the January expiration of a law authorizing it.
Okada's often-repeated phrase "simply" has raised speculation that he may leave room for the possibility of extending the mission. But he hinted to reporters the same day in Islamabad that he believes the circumstances would not allow an extension.