Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:54am ISTTOKYO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A law to extend Japan's refuelling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan looks likely to pass this month, but Washington is keen for its ally to do even more in the region.
Japan has supplied free fuel to ships in the Indian Ocean since 2001, but opposition parties which control parliament's upper house and can delay laws are against extending the mission, which runs out in January.
Opposition parties forced a three-month hiatus in the programme when permission last expired in 2007, but Japanese media have reported they had agreed to a strategy that would allow for a quick passage of the law through parliament.
The opposition say the mission lacks U.N. approval and violated Japan's pacifist constitution.
"Parliament is on the right track but we need to make greater efforts to get public understanding," Kyodo news agency quoted Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada as telling a news conference.
Kyodo said ruling and opposition parties had agreed that the lower house would vote on the bill Oct. 21 and it could be passed as soon as Oct. 24.
U.S. officials have made clear they want Japan to continue the refuelling mission, but are also seeking additional effort.
"We would hope that Japan's contributions could extend beyond ... the sustained oiler presence in the North Arabian sea," Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific, told reporters in Tokyo this week.
U.S. ambassador Thomas Schieffer declined to comment this week on a Kyodo report that Washington wants Japan to pay part of an estimated $17 billion needed to double the Afghan army.
But he said: "I think we would welcome not only a continuation of the refuelling operation in the Indian Ocean, but an even greater contribution of Japan in Afghanistan itself," adding there were many options other than a military presence.
The opposition is looking to focus on economic issues and may vote down the bill in parliament's upper house. That would allow the ruling bloc to use its big lower house majority to approve the mission. (Reporting by Linda Sieg and Isabel Reynolds; Editing by David Fox)
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