The government has submitted to the Diet a bill for a two-year extension of the July 2003 ad hoc law to deploy Self-Defense Forces for noncombat activities in Iraq. Since the law expires at the end of July, the government hopes the Diet will pass the bill by the end of June. The specific aim of the bill is to extend the activities of Air Self-Defense Force in Iraq.
Under the law, Ground Self-Defense troops started their humanitarian and reconstruction assistance mission in the southern Iraq city of Samawah in February 2004. They were withdrawn in July 2006. At present, three C-130 ASDF air transports and about 200 ASDF members are stationed in Kuwait. These aircraft transport goods for the multinational force and the United Nations to Baghdad, Arbil in the northern Kurdish region, and an airport in southern Iraq.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says that the U.N. highly values the SDF's reconstruction assistance activities in Iraq and that the Iraqi people want the SDF's activities continued, adding that he would like to fulfill the responsibilities that the international community expects of Japan.