US welcomes Japan pledges on Afghanistan, Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States welcomed Wednesday a commitment by Japan to give five billion dollars of aid to Afghanistan and to implement quickly an earlier pledge to Pakistan.

Japan's announcement on Tuesday came just ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to Tokyo on Friday and Saturday.

"As President Obama prepares to travel to Japan this week, he looks forward to renewing our strong alliance with Japan, and discussing our continued partnership on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and critical bilateral issues," a White House statement said.

"We welcome the announcement by the government of Japan to provide approximately five billion dollars over the next five years to Afghanistan and to implement swiftly its April 2009 pledge of one billion dollars for economic assistance to Pakistan."

After coming to power in September, the new Japanese government of center-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said it will end a naval refueling mission that supports the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, but promised to step up aid instead.

Hatoyama confirmed Japan would not deploy troops to Afghanistan.

Under its post-war pacifist constitution, Japan is barred from deploying troops overseas for combat, but Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa had recently weighed sending military personnel to the region for aid missions.

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