The Japanese government has run into difficulties evacuating out of Afghanistan Japanese nationals, local staff of the Japanese Embassy, and others.

       Tokyo had envisaged evacuating up to 500 people from the airport in Kabul to neighboring Pakistan by dispatching three Self-Defense Force (SDF) transport aircraft. But as of Aug. 27, the Japanese government says it has only been able to evacuate one Japanese national plus 14 Afghans -- the latter of whom were airlifted out at the request of the U.S. government. Many people are still stranded in Afghanistan.

       The delay in the decision to dispatch the SDF aircraft is thought to be the reason Japan has run into so much difficulty.

       Western countries and others quickly sent military aircraft to Afghanistan and commenced evacuation operations in response to the Taliban's takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15. Each country evacuated its own nationals as well as many of its Afghan collaborators.

       But it was not until Aug. 23 that the Japanese government decided to dispatch the SDF aircraft.

       Twelve Japanese staff from the Japanese Embassy in Kabul were evacuated out of the city in a British military aircraft on Aug. 17, but the situation in Kabul deteriorated quickly after that. Did that not affect Japan's information-gathering capacity, and impact the government's decision to dispatch the SDF planes and its cooperation with other countries?

       The dispatch of the SDF aircraft is based on Section 4 of Article 84 of the Self-Defense Forces Act, and this is the fifth time for Japan to invoke it. Ensured security of the location where the SDF would be taking action is a condition for their dispatch. Considering the urgency of the situation, their dispatch could be said to have been reasonable.

       But the SDF's activities were confined to the grounds of Kabul airport, where the situation was secure. People who sought to be evacuated by the SDF were initially told they would have to secure their own transport to the airport. But it was not easy to reach the dispatch point, as there were many Taliban checkpoints outside the airport grounds.

       The Self-Defense Forces Act also has a stipulation in which SDF personnel are given wider authority to use weapons to protect Japanese nationals. Considering the confusion on the ground, however, the use of such force is not realistic. The Japanese government must secure another safe way of transporting people.

       South Korea managed to do just that by having U.S. troops ride along on buses that the U.S. government has contracts with in Afghanistan to get through Taliban checkpoints, and evacuated around 390 people that way.

       There were predictions that as the complete pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan at the end of this month draws near, things would get more chaotic. Were there any points that Japan must reflect on, concerning the way it obtained information from and engaged in collaboration with the U.S.? Did Japan have a plan to evacuate Afghans together with Japanese nationals from the very beginning? The government must be willing to disclose the circumstances surrounding the evacuation.

       It is the duty of the government to protect its own citizens and its collaborators. There is a need for the Japanese government to use every possible diplomatic channel to do all that it can to evacuate the people who remain in Afghanistan. Japan's crisis management skills are being put to the test.

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