Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he would end the naval refuelling mission early next year, and his foreign minister Okada reiterated Sunday "we won't simply extend the mission" beyond January when it expires.

The Indian Ocean mission -- which began in December 2001 and was periodically renewed by Japan's ousted conservative government -- provides fuel and other logistical support to the US-led coalition.

But when asked about alternative contributions, Okada said he hoped to help stabilise the situation through financing development and aid programmes.

"If Japan can generate the situation where Taliban soldiers on the frontline would be able to feed their family members and offer education, then the situation in Afghanistan will change," he said.

"There is a significant number of people who work for Taliban to earn money."

The activities of Japanese aid organisations are at a minimum, he added, due to the deterioration in the security situation.

"The areas where we can send civilians are limited to places where security is guaranteed," Okada said.

While in opposition, Hatoyama's centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had criticised the Japanese government for supporting "American wars", vowing not to renew the naval mission.

The DPJ would seek to placate Washington by launching new humanitarian aid projects for Afghanistan instead, media reports have said, with Kyodo News reporting Japan will host an international aid meeting in November.

Meanwhile, Hatoyama has a busy week ahead in the United States, where he is due to attend the UN General Assembly and the G20 summit and will meet President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

It will be the first meeting between the two world leaders, two weeks after Hatoyama ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Foreign Minister Okada will also meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

On his talks with Clinton, Okada said: "I'd like to discuss the Japan-US cooperation on global issues such as global warming and nuclear (disarmament).

"The issue of the refuelling mission and aid to Afghanistan are intertwined, as the Obama administration places its weight on the Afghan issue... This should be seen as a package deal" Japan can offer to the United States, Okada said.

Okada also said "more broadly, the issue of the relocation of US military bases in Japan can be" included in the deal.

The minister has said a new base outside Okinawa would replace an old one which led to complaints by residents tired of noise and crimes committed by US servicemen.

Okada added: "I don't want to say anything more. I can't say this and that ahead of negotiations (with the United States)."

Excluding the possibility of sending Japanese troops to Afghanistan, Okada said: "What can the Self-Defence Forces do now?"

Under Japan's pacifist constitution, Japanese troops -- called the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) -- are barred from the use of weapons except for self-defence.

"I think it's unrealistic to send the SDF to Afghanistan where other countries are considering the withdrawal of troops," he said.

"Japan has been highly valued by Afghan people because Japan has not sent troops", he said, noting that the United States had not requested that Japan send troops.

earlier related report
Taliban leader Omar says foreign troops face defeat Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 20 - The shadowy leader of the Islamist Taliban movement issued a warning Saturday to Western troops in Afghanistan that their "unequivocal defeat" is imminent and they should learn the lessons of history.

Weeks before the eighth anniversary of the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime, Mullah Omar painted Afghanistan as a graveyard for "colonial" troops.

In a statement issued to mark the Muslim festival of Eid, he referred to "huge casualties and sagging morale" among the more than 100,000 NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban-linked insurgents.

"The more the enemy resorts to increasing forces, the more they will face an unequivocal defeat in Afghanistan," the statement said.

Taliban-linked rebels have been resurgent in recent months, retreating from the battlefield as they intensify use of roadside bombs, particularly in the south.

This year more than 350 foreign troops have been killed, making it the deadliest year since the invasion on October 7, 2001.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Saturday a soldier -- whose nationality was not given -- was killed in a firefight in the south.

On Thursday six Italian troops and at least 10 Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul.

The attack led to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saying Italy now wanted to reduce its deployment in Afghanistan but only with agreement from NATO partners.

"We are keen to bring our boys home as soon as possible," Berlusconi said.

Omar is a founder of the Taliban and is often referred to as its "supreme commander." He is believed to be in Pakistan.

In his statement, he said that by maintaining their troops in Afghanistan the international community "will only prolong the current crisis but will never solve it."

"The invaders should study the history of Afghanistan from the time of the aggression of Alexander, to the Ganges of the yore and to this very day and should receive lesson from it," the English version of the statement said.

While public opinion in the US and Britain turns against deployment in Afghanistan, political and military leaders remain committed to eradicating the Taliban, and the US is expected to boost troop numbers in coming months.

Omar said Afghans should "avoid being tricked by the empty bluffs" of Western leaders who reiterate their commitment to Afghanistan.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls on the public of the West not to be deceived by the assertions of (President Barack) Obama, who says the war in Afghanistan is a war of necessity," he said.

"The West does not have to wage this war," he said, adding that assertions that the war in Afghanistan will keep the West safe from terrorism were "baseless utterances."

He lambasted as "corrupt" and "tyrannical" the government of President Hamid Karzai, backed by the international community and currently embroiled in controversy over a fraud-tainted August 20 election.

Karzai is ahead in preliminary results, with almost 55 percent of the vote, though hundreds of thousands of ballots may be recounted and could force him into a run-off against his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, on 27.8 percent.

"The rampant corruption in the surrogate Kabul administration, the embezzlement, drug trafficking, the existence of mafia networks, the tyranny and high-handedness of the warlords... are part of the colonial... plans," he said.

Calling Karzai's government "a corrupt and stooge administration" Omar said the election was "fraught with fraud and lies" and was "categorically rejected by the people," a reference to low turnout amid Taliban intimidation.

The Taliban was "wrongly depicted" as opposed to education and women's rights, he said, making no reference to the repression that kept women covered by burkas, banned from schools, and confined indoors unless accompanied by a male relative during the movement's five-year regime.

"Our goal is to gain independence... and establish a just Islamic system," he said.

"We can consider any option that could lead to the achievement of this goal," he said, adding: "However, this will only be feasible when the country is free from the trampling steps of the invading forces and has gained independence."

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