Japan plans to call on its Group of Eight partners to share the financial burden to proceed with a project aimed at helping paramilitary troops in Afghanistan to disarm and reintegrate into society, government sources said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura plans to make the call during a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Russia planned for June 23 in London, the sources said.
The project is aimed at promoting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of those soldiers not listed as members of armed factions in Afghanistan, according to the sources.
The Japanese government estimates that the project will cover 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and cost nearly $100 million, they said.
During the talks, Machimura is expected to promote Japan's position that those unregistered soldiers need the support as their presence looms as a potential risk to efforts toward peace, the sources said.
The project to decommission unregistered soldiers comes after an international DDR project for about 60,000 armed faction elements in Afghanistan, the sources said.
Japan paid $90 million for that DDR project, the sources said.