Japan's opposition wobbles on Afghan operation

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's opposition Democratic Party said on Wednesday he would end a refueling mission in support of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan in January, appearing to contradict comments by two senior party officials.

Polls show the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which has promised a diplomatic stance more independent of Japan's main ally, the United States, is likely to take power from the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in an August 30 election.

The Democrats, who with smaller parties control parliament's upper house, delayed passage of the bill enabling the mission to refuel ships in the Indian Ocean. It was finally enacted, but expires on January 15.

However, in an apparent attempt to avoid friction with security ally Washington, the Democrats have backed away from bringing the ships back immediately if they win next month's election.

Democratic Party lawmakers said this was simply a more realistic stance. But it upset the small Social Democratic Party, a likely coalition partner, and sparked accusations of flip-flopping by the LDP.

"I don't believe we have changed our position," Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama told reporters. "Basically, we don't plan to extend," he added.

The previous day, Democratic Party Secretary-General Katsuya Okada said in an interview the party had not decided whether to continue the mission long-term.

Hatoyama's deputy, Naoto Kan, echoed that view on Wednesday.

"As I understand it, the current law runs until January and the question is what to do if the administration changes while the law is in effect," he told a news conference. "We plan to discuss this and reach a decision by January. And of course if we take over the administration, this is a diplomatic matter, so we would need discussions with America and other countries."

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Nick Macfie)