Japan ends refueling US-led mission in Afghanistan

Ending a refueling mission for US-led military efforts in Afghanistan, Japanese naval ships have returned home on Saturday.

Families and friends as well as government officials gathered at Harumi Wharf in Tokyo Bay on Saturday, to welcome 340 military personnel abroad Mahsu, a supply ship and Ikazuchi a destroyer.

In January, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa announced a plan to put an end to an eight-year Indian Ocean mission carrying oil and water to vessels used by international forces engaged in Afghanistan.

“As prime minister, I am proud of your professionalism,” Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama told the repatriation ceremony, also attended by Kitazawa.

The return coincided with the departure of 350 Japanese troops for Haiti to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

“Our government will positively play an appropriate role in humanitarian assistance, prevention of terrorism and UN peacekeeping activities,” Hatoyama added.

The troops are expected to remove rubble, repair roads and build shelters for quake victims.

On January 12, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation, leaving over 200,000 people killed and rendering more than a million others homeless.