The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer.
With Thursday's Cabinet approval to extend the GSDF's Iraq mission, the government will now map out an exit strategy.
The government appears to be debating the GSDF pullout not based on the assistance Iraq needs for reconstruction but on other factors, observers said, including one who suggested the timing has more to do with the September election for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.