Washington: After Japan decided to end its naval refuelling mission in Afghanistan in January, the US hopes that the new Japanese government headed by Yukio Hatoyama would continue to support its mission in the country.
"We hope that Japan will find a way to continue to support the operations in Afghanistan, but that will be up to the Japanese Government," State Department Deputy Spokesman, Robert Wood, told reporters.
However, the Obama administration has not been officially notified yet by the new Government of Japan which came to power after the recently held elections.
"I don`t know if we`ve gotten the formal notification. That I`m not sure at this point, but again, what Japan decides to do in the future is really going to be up to Japan, and we greatly appreciated what they`ve done up until now," Wood said, hoping that they will find a way to continue that support in one manner or another.
"We want to thank the Government of Japan for its contributions to our efforts to fight extremism in Afghanistan. Japan`s contributions have been very important, and we greatly appreciate everything that Japan has done in that regard," Wood said.
Bureau Report
