Japan to dispatch 1st civilian officials to Afghan reconstruction team

TOKYO, Jan. 9 Kyodo -
The Japanese government will dispatch two to three civilian officials to take
part for the first time in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan under the
International Security Assistance Force as early as spring, Foreign Minister
Hirofumi Nakasone said Friday.
They will engage in development assistance, such as school construction and job
training, as members of a provincial reconstruction team in Chaghcharan in
western Afghanistan led by Lithuania, the ministry said. Japan will consider
more dispatches to other PRTs, if needed, after considering the effectiveness
and security conditions.
The decision came in response to a request from Lithuania in November. The
region concerned is believed to be relatively stable.
The officials to be dispatched are expected to come mainly from the Foreign
Ministry, although the government may also select representatives from the
private sector, if deemed appropriate, after analyzing the needs and conditions
in Chaghcharan, the ministry said.
A provincial reconstruction team is a unit comprising military officers,
diplomats and experts, aimed at supporting reconstruction efforts in unstable
states.
Japan has pledged up to $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan. The first dispatch of
civilian officials to a PRT comes amid speculation that the incoming U.S.
administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to press Japan, a
close ally, to contribute more in the reconstruction of the war-torn nation.
Last June, under the administration of then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the
Japanese government sent officials from the defense and foreign ministries to
Afghanistan to consider the possibility of dispatching Self-Defense Forces
personnel to join the PRTs.
However, given the limitations under Japan's pacifist Constitution, such as the
use of weapons and places where the SDF can be deployed, the idea of sending
SDF officers was shelved.
As of December, about 30 experts from the Japan International Cooperation
Agency have been dispatched to Afghanistan for various technical assistance and
some 140 Japanese, such as from nongovernmental organizations, are engaged in
activities there, according to the ministry.
==Kyodo