The BBC has just announced that Japan has issued an order to its ships to return to base, thus ending support of the U.S. in Afghanistan provided in the form of naval re-fuelling assistance to vessels involved in ground missions there.
Nothing is yet up on the BBC site or being reported elsewhere. It may well be that this story is played down in Washington - just another nation removed quietly from the list of those committed to pro-active support to the USA in its overseas war on terror.
The withdrawal of Japan is a surprise. As short a time ago as last Sunday it was predicted that the ruling party proposal to extend the support beyond its schedule ending on Wednesday would gain parliament's approval. The objections voiced by the public proved too overwhelming
Since 2001, Japan's navy has been providing fuel for coalition warships under an anti-terrorism law that has been extended three times. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has strongly pushed for another extension to the mission.
However, Fukuda has been forced to make concessions because of strong resistance from the opposition bloc, fearful of public opinion, which controls one of parliament's two chambers. (An ironic contrast to what is happening in the US Congress)
This action would be less surprisng if it related to US presence in Iraq and is more worrying that it relates to Afghanistan. It will encourage withdrawal by those EU countries whose people have put their governments under pressure to also withdraw from the mission in that country, which has previously been seen as the least objectionable of the post-9/11 actions. The real measure of just what is happening to US influence and power abroad can be seen in this apparently strategically minor set-back. Japan is deeply conscious that it needs strength in its alliance with the US, given its position in the Far East and its ever difficult relationships with China.
No matter how strong the rhetoric of George W Bush may have resounded around the receptive room of the Heritage Foundation today as he beat his drum for support of his funding of his war, the reality is that there is an increasingly lonely and hollow sound in the war planning room of the White House.
When will Congress start to recognise this and realise that it is America that is becoming more and more isolated and not simply George W Bush?