Germany, Japan agree on need for Afghan support

TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuters) Japan and Germany agreed at a summit in Tokyo today that they should continue to support Afghanistan and not yield to terrorism, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a battle to continue naval support for US-led operations in Afghanistan, a mission which is opposed by an opposition majority in the upper house of parliament.

''We agreed that we must not yield to terrorist activities but that we have to do everything to give the Afghan people a real future, and thus protect our own security, too,'' Merkel told reporters after talks with Abe at his official residence.

She thanked Japan for its support in the Indian Ocean.

Abe said he had told her that he would do everything he could to persuade the opposition to support the continuation of the mission.

Japan's navy has been refuelling coalition ships in the Indian Ocean since 2001 under a law that expires on November 1. The government plans to submit a bill extending the mission to parliament next month.

The more powerful lower house can override a rejection by the upper house, but a delay might mean the bill does not pass before the deadline, possibly resulting in a hiatus in supply.

A public opinion poll published in the Asahi Shimbun daily today showed 53 per cent of respondents opposed an extension of the mission, while 35 per cent supported it.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also praised Japan's Indian Ocean operations in a telephone conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura today, the foreign ministry said.

Merkel, who made climate change a focus of Germany's presidency of the G8 group of industrialised nations, told reporters she wanted to consult with Tokyo on the issue as Japan prepared to host the next G8 summit in Hokkaido in 2008.

Reuters SS GC1846