(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-20 10:13

CANBERRA - Australia's 550 combat troops based in southern Iraq have successfully made the area more secure and should now be withdrawn, the defense chief said Wednesday.

The new government was elected in November last year with a promise to remove Australia's combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008.

The head of Australia's defense force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, told a Senate inquiry Wednesday that planning was under way to withdraw the 550 combat troops based in the province of Dhi Qar as well as 65 army trainers.

The troops have been on standby to offer backup to Iraqi forces in the south for the past two years but were no longer needed, Houston told the Senate committee which is carrying out a routine inquiry into Defense Department issues.

"We have achieved our objectives in southern Iraq," Houston said. "It's time to leave. The job is done."

Houston, who has previously been critical of the Iraqi government's lack of will to take responsibility for their own national security, now praises their commitment.

"The government of Iraq and its security forces have demonstrated a high level of resolve to work along side coalition forces," he said.

Iraqi security forces' capabilities had grown significantly through coalition training programs and new equipment, he said.

"I'm very pleased to say that the security situation in Iraq has improved significantly over the past 12 months," Houston said.

"Despite periodic escalations, there has been a downward trend in sectarian and other forms of violence in this period," he said.

Al-Qaida had suffered significant casualties and had lost influence in Iraq, he said.

"Iraqis are increasingly opposed to al-Qaida's disruptive role in Iraq," Houston said.

"However al-Qaida remains capable of mounting high casualty attacks despite the damage inflicted on it by Iraqi and coalition forces," he added.

Houston said Australia currently has 1,540 military personnel in and around Iraq, including a naval frigate guarding oil wells plus surveillance and transport aircraft.

Australia sent 2,000 troops to back the US and British military in the Iraq invasion in 2003. US President George W. Bush recently said he hoped that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would reconsider his election pledge to withdraw troops.