The U.S. government has requested that Japan continue providing reconstruction assistance to Iraq in the form of airlift support from the Air Self-Defense Force -- even if it withdraws its ground troops from the country, sources familiar with the issue said Friday.
The United States has also asked Japan to expand the ASDF operations to cover Baghdad, the sources said.
The government will examine the requests in light of the security situation in Iraq, but the Defense Agency is reluctant to expand operations, they said.
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