TOKYO —

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a plan to extend a maximum $5 billion, or about 450 billion yen, in civilian aid to Afghanistan over five years from 2009 to help reconstruct the conflict-torn country. Hatoyama is expected to convey the plan to U.S. President Barack Obama in their scheduled meeting Friday in Tokyo.
   
The aid is intended to replace Japan’s current support for Afghanistan in the form of the refueling mission by Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, which is set to expire in January 2010. The government has come up with the aid figure based on its belief that Afghan reconstruction is ‘‘a very significant problem not only for Japan and the United States but also for the international community,’’ Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a press conference.

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4 Comments

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  MrUSA at 01:15 PM JST - 10th November

  Waste of money.

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  drink_more_milk at 04:52 PM JST - 10th November

  Absolute bollocks.

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  Shumatsu_Samurai at 08:39 PM JST - 10th November

  Hmm, sour grapes from some people methinks.

  Afghanistan needs aid to rebuild itself, and there's no evidence that aid will automatically be wasted. If Tokyo spends the money on specific projects (as reports suggest it will) rather than drops it on Karzai's lap it could be very, very useful.

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  MrUSA at 02:28 PM JST - 11th November

  Japan has no obligation to give this aid. Perhaps they could use the money to help stimulate the economy or provide homeless people with shelter.

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