Time to step up to the intl plate

The Yomiuri Shimbun Asia News Network Tokyo

In the midst of the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan, the international community is racing to help bring peace to and rehabilitate the war-torn country.

Vice-minister level officials from the Group of Eight major nations and other involved countries are meeting Tuesday in Washington to discuss support for a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Japan is being urged not only to play a proactive role in helping refugees and in reconstruction, but also to get actively involved in the peace process.

Due partly to their security and energy strategies, the interests of the countries meeting Tuesday are intertwined in a complex way to promote peace and restoration in Afghanistan. Therefore, the parties concerned are attempting to take a leadership role for the benefit of their own interests.

The meeting will certainly be a tough one, and one that will test Japan's diplomatic ability, which makes it a matter of serious national concern.

The meeting was originally to be a Cabinet-level meeting cohosted by the United States and Japan, but it was rescheduled into a vice minister-level meeting as a result of criticism by Britain and France, which objected to Japan's taking an initiative in drawing up plans to help Afghanistan reconstruct itself.

Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata was to have cochaired the meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. The European side, however, is believed to have objected to Ogata's appointment, claiming that a person who is not a Cabinet member should not cochair the meeting.

Ogata was appointed to represent Japan partly out of concern that Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, who apparently lacks any form of diplomatic insight and ability, would be unable to handle an international meeting. Knowing this, the Europeans pressed home their case, taking advantage of the weakest point in Japan's diplomacy--the fact that our foreign minister is all but useless.

We believe the government must restructure the diplomatic corp by replacing the foreign minister as soon as possible.

For the time being, the most pressing task is to provide humanitarian aid, such as food, to Afghan refugees, including those who have returned to their country.

Japan has already rendered humanitarian assistance off its own bat. However, a new international framework of humanitarian aid should urgently be established by international organizations.

Given that the situation in Afghanistan has changed so drastically over the past few days, work toward peace and reconstruction may end up proceeding side-by-side.

Long before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Japan had maintained dialogues with the different Afghan factions as a part of its efforts to help realize peace in the country. Though these efforts had lapsed over recent years, Japan has been trying to strengthen ties with Central Asia and Middle East countries, including Afghanistan, under the banner of "Eurasia diplomacy" launched in 1997.

For example, even during the period when relations between Iran and the West were cool, Tokyo managed to maintain good relations with Teheran.

By drawing on this legacy, Japan is well placed to play an active role in coordinating the opinions of countries wishing to help reconstruct a post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Stability in Afghanistan would not only lead to enhanced stability in Central and Southern Asian regions as well as the Middle East, but of the world as a whole.

Pipelines to transport crude oil and other natural resources from the Caspian Sea to the Asia-Pacific region are planned to run through Afghanistan. In this respect, stability there would contribute to the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, in terms of securing energy needed to support the economy of the region.

Proactive involvement by Japan in helping to secure peace in Afghanistan and rebuild it, with an eye to restructuring Tokyo's Eurasia diplomacy, would kill several birds with one stone.