Japan says too early to decide Iraq troops pullout

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has yet to decide when to withdraw
its non-combat ground troops from Iraq, top government
spokesman Shinzo Abe said on Thursday.

Abe made the remarks after a newspaper report that Japan
had entered final stages of talks with the United States and
Britain on plans to start pulling out its troops in March and
complete the withdrawal by the end of May.

“We are not in a situation where we can make a decision in
advance on the timing of ending the activities of the
Self-Defense Forces,” Abe told reporters, using the term by
which Japan refers to its military forces.

Abe said Japan would take into account the “political
process” and security situation in Iraq as well as activities
of British and Australian forces operating there when deciding
a timetable for its troop withdrawal.

Japan, which first approved a dispatch of troops to Iraq in
2003, decided in December to keep them in southern Iraq for up
to a further year from December 14, but government officials
had left open the possibility they could be withdrawn sooner.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has repeatedly said that
Japan will have to carefully consider the situation in Iraq
before deciding on a troop pullout, and that coordination with
the British and Australian governments is needed to decide the
timing.

With their activities strictly limited by Japan’s pacifist
constitution, the roughly 550 Japanese ground troops based in
the southern Iraqi city of Samawa rely heavily on British and
Australian forces to maintain security in the area.

Japan’s dispatch — the military’s riskiest since World War
Two — has won praise from close ally Washington, but is
opposed by most Japanese voters.

The Japanese troops are engaged in reconstruction
activities such as repairing buildings and providing medical
training.