Afghanistan: Japan forces could pull out of evacuation mission ‘in days’
- Japan has assessed it is difficult to ensure operations would be safe after the Tuesday deadline of the US troops’ withdrawal
- Such a move would come after Japan had evacuated one national and transported 14 Afghans out of the country
Japan is considering withdrawing its Self-Defence Forces from their mission to evacuate people, including Japanese nationals, from Afghanistan on Wednesday at the earliest, government sources said, amid heightened tensions in the war-torn country.
Japan has assessed it is difficult to ensure operations at the airport in the Afghan capital of Kabul would be safe after the Tuesday deadline of the US troops’ pull-out from Afghanistan, the sources said.
Such a move would come after Japan had evacuated one national and transported 14 Afghans out of the country.
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Security in Kabul remains volatile following last week’s deadly explosions near the airport that killed more than 100 people.
Media have reported that a US anti-missile defence system intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at the airport early on Monday.
SDF aircraft – a C-2 transporter and two C-130 planes – have remained on standby in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan to discern developments in Kabul, where foreign governments have been rushing to evacuate their citizens.
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The sources said up to about 500 people including local staff of the Japanese Embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency as well as their families remain in the country.
While assessing security on the ground, the government has been looking into possible alternative methods to evacuate them such as by using commercial airlines, according to the sources.
Hiromi Yasui, a Kyodo News staff member who lives in Kabul and also runs a business there, was evacuated aboard an SDF aircraft on Friday.
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Prior to that, there had been attempts to evacuate but they failed to bring out any evacuee as people were reportedly unable to reach the airport on their own due to strict Taliban checkpoints.
Government officials have said a very few number of Japanese remain in Afghanistan as they did not wish to leave.
The evacuation of 14 Afghans was the first SDF airlift of foreign nationals to another country as part of a mission to evacuate Japanese citizens.
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The UN Security Council is planning to vote on a resolution on Monday afternoon that would increase pressure on the Taliban to grant people safe passage out of Kabul, among other items.
According to diplomats, while China and Russia have shown themselves open to the French-British draft resolution, agreement was not yet certain.
For a resolution to be adopted, the United Nation’s most important body needs nine out of 15 votes in favour, without a veto by the permanent members – US, China, Russia, France and Britain.
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The draft resolution stresses the need for the United Nations to have unhindered humanitarian access.
However, according to diplomats, there is no direct mention of a secure UN zone in Kabul, which was floated by French President Emmanuel Macron over the weekend.
After the vote, representatives from the five veto powers will meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to discuss the situation.
