The Air Self-Defense Force unit flying transport operations between Kuwait and Iraq may be withdrawn by the end of the year, the government said Thursday.

The ASDF and a Ground Self-Defense Force contingent were dispatched to the Middle East to support U.S.-led coalition forces in January 2004. The ground forces left in July 2006. The ASDF exit would conclude Japan's first military deployment to a region experiencing combat since the war.

"The purpose of the special law for Iraqi reconstruction has been fulfilled," in light of the improvement in safety there, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said at a regular news conference.