"Japan Criticized for Dispatching 300 Self-Defense Forces but Evacuating Only 15"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Criticism is emerging within Japan's ruling circles over the fact that Japan, despite dispatching a large-scale unit for the Afghanistan evacuation operation, managed to evacuate only 15 people.

According to Kyodo News and Mainichi Shimbun on the 2nd, during a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Defense Committee, and Security Council held at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party headquarters that day, there were continued criticisms that the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces was too late.

Regarding the Japanese government's decision to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces only on the 23rd of last month, well after the fall of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, opinions were expressed such as "It cannot be denied that the decision was late. It would be good if the government could manage it well."

There are also calls to revise the requirements of the Self-Defense Forces Law related to overseas dispatches.

In particular, there is a growing atmosphere questioning the requirement of obtaining the consent of the host country for the Self-Defense Forces to use weapons to rescue Japanese nationals.

The Japanese government dispatched about 300 Self-Defense Forces personnel to support the Afghanistan evacuation operation but managed to evacuate only one Japanese national and 14 Afghans requested by the United States.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.