Japanese Won’t Go to Afghanistan

TOKYO —  Japan has decided not to send its military to Afghanistan to help remove land mines but will instead consider financial and other forms of aid to nonprofit groups for that purpose, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported today.

Japan has targeted land mine removal as a way in which it wants to help, but questions arose as to whether it should send its military to a place where fighting could occur.

Japan this month passed legislation that allows Japanese servicemen to join United Nations forces on missions such as separating warring factions, overseeing the laying down of arms and removing land mines.

A government research team sent to Pakistan to review the possibilities of Japanese aid to Afghanistan concluded that the war-torn nation needs monetary aid more than land mine removal, the newspaper said.

It also said Japan will pledge $15.2 million in aid to help reconstruct the country when the Ministerial Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan meets Jan. 21-22 in Tokyo.

Japanese government officials could not confirm the report.

At a meeting last week in Brussels led by the European Union, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S., donors agreed to create an initial $20-million fund for the new Afghan administration.