New law allows Japanese forces to evacuate foreigners in emergency missions

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Japan on Wednesday amended a law to allow the country's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to rescue foreigners in emergency missions.

Japanese bicameral parliament’s House of Councilors, or the upper house, passed the bill to amend Japan’s law on SDF’s rescue operations.

The move was triggered after the Japanese government faced criticism last year when it failed to rescue Afghans working for Japanese agencies, including the embassy in Kabul, when foreign forces withdrew from the war-torn country.

The amendment was approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet in February.

The House of Representatives, or the lower house, passed it in mid-March.

Japan is one of the major assistance providers to Afghanistan where the Taliban have regained control.

Tokyo has contributed over $6 billion to reconstruction, education, agriculture, health care, and other aid programs to the country since 2001.

However, Japan closed its embassy in Kabul on Aug. 15 of last year and is currently in the process of evacuating its staff along with local employees.

After the fall of US-backed Kabul administration, the SDF dispatched its team to evacuate 500 employees but was only able to rescue about a dozen Afghan citizens due to legal restrictions, according to a report by Kyodo News.