Japan extends its naval unit’s Afghan support mission

October 13th, 2009 Japan to end naval refueling missionTOKYO — Japan will end its naval refueling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan next January, officials said Tuesday. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said Japan would pull out its two naval ships from the Indian Ocean operation when their current mandate expires in January.

October 13th, 2009 NEW YORK - The UN Security Council Tuesday gave its peacekeeping mission in Haiti a one-year mandate extension so it can complete the work of training the Haitian national police in addition to assisting the government in stabilising the security. The mission is composed of more than 7,000 military and civilian personnel and an international police force of over 2,000 involved in training the Haitian police.

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has said that 50 to 80 per cent of the Taleban would probably stop fighting if they were given jobs and added that he was all for reintegrating them into Afghan society. However, he cautioned that such a mission called for "patience, resolve and time".The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully," he said, speaking at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

September 21st, 2009 US wants equal ties with new Japanese govNEW YORK — The United States said Monday that it does not want to dictate policy to a new independent-minded Japanese government, even as it pushed for some aspects of the countries' security alliance to remain the same. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S.

September 20th, 2009 Japan may provide more aid to AfghanistanTOKYO — Tokyo is considering sending more financial aid to Afghanistan after its current naval refueling mission supporting the U.S.-led coalition ends next January, but has no intention of sending ground troops to the region, Japan's new foreign minister said Sunday. Japan has long been one of Washington's closest allies, but a new government that took power last week has said it wants to reframe its relations with the U.S.

August 22nd, 2009 KABUL - Election monitors from the European Union Saturday described the Afghan presidential elections as "largely positive". Two days after the elections, the European Union Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan, in a statement, welcomed the elections "as a victory against those who wanted to prevent the Afghan people from deciding their own future".

August 18th, 2009 - US President Barack Obama said the mission in Afghanistan was "a war of necessity" as Al Qaeda was still plotting against the US. However, he said the Iraq mission -- which he has repeatedly criticised as "a war of choice" -- will end in 2011.

August 3rd, 2009 EU says Somali pirates release German shipBERLIN — A European Union naval spokesman says Somali pirates have released a German vessel after a ransom was paid. British Royal Navy Cmdr John Harbour says the ship, which had been held nearly four months, was released after the ransom was paid around lunchtime.

July 31st, 2009 GENEVA - Afghan civilian deaths in the first six months of 2009 rose 24 percent, compared to the same period last year, the UN reported Friday, blaming air strikes and guerrilla warfare for many of the casualties. "As the conflict intensifies and spreads, it is taking an increasingly heavy toll on civilians," the UN said in a twice-annual review, noting that each year more unarmed people were being killed.

July 29th, 2009 Japan opposition wants to end pro-US missionTOKYO — The head of Japan's opposition said Wednesday that a refueling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in the Indian Ocean will end in January if his party takes power in next month's elections. Yukio Hatoyama said his Democratic Party's position has always been against extending the law that allows for the mission, which partially supports U.S.

July 5th, 2009 KABUL - A terrorist who allegedly recruited Afghan children to serve as suicide bombers has been taken into custody, US officials said Sunday. The arrest was made south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

June 12th, 2009 BRUSSELS - NATO members states must give the Afghan police more training and better equipment to help them fight off insurgent attacks, the alliance's top official said Friday. Two-thirds of all the uniformed personnel killed in Afghanistan are police officers, and there is an "urgent need to provide them with better training, infrastructure and equipment", NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told alliance defence ministers.

May 28th, 2009 TOKYO - Japan's major automakers suffered production cuts in April amid declining sales caused by the global economic turmoil, the firms said Thursday. Leading carmaker Toyota Motor Corp's global output plunged almost 50 percent in April to 366,125 units from the corresponding month a year before, it said.

April 30th, 2009 Diplomacy key for NC paratroopers training AfghansFORT BRAGG, N.C. — Col. Brian Drinkwine and his paratroopers had one duty on previous deployments to Afghanistan: security.

April 23rd, 2009 Japan lower house OKs piracy lawTOKYO — Japan's lower house approved an anti-piracy bill Thursday that will allow the country's navy ships on a mission off the Somali coast to escort foreign vessels. Japan has dispatched two destroyers to the Somali coast to join an international anti-piracy mission, its first policing action overseas.