Japan Press Weekly

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2008 October 29 - November 4 [WORLD]

JCP Inoue urges the government to call on the U.S. for cancellation of air strikes in Afghanistan

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Inoue Satoshi on October 28 urged the government to call on the U.S. government to stop military attacks in Afghanistan that are worsening public security and killing many innocent Afghan civilians.

Inoue took the floor at a House of Councilors committee meeting that was in session to discuss the bill to extend the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law for one year in order to keep the Maritime Self-Defense Force deployed in the Indian Ocean.

Prime Minister Aso Taro said, “Afghan insurgents are deliberately involving civilians in the conflict. U.S. forces are trying hard to minimize casualties.” He thus justifyed the U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan.

Inoue then pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating despite the Japanese government’s repeated assertions that the Afghan and the U.S. forces have been discussing ways to reduce casualties as much as possible since last year.

Referring to the Afghan government’s statement of August that said that its call for a halt to air strikes was not addressed, Inoue said that Japan should demand an end to air strikes that are totally unproductive in the effort to eliminate terrorism and actually worsens the situation.

Sharply criticizing Aso for approving continued air strikes by stating, “Japan isn’t in a position to tell the U.S. to stop the air strikes”, Inoue said, “Japan, which has the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, should assist in diplomatic efforts to achieve peace.”