Australia expects Iraq forces review by end of 2006

CANBERRA, June 21 (Reuters) Australia expects to be able to review its troop deployment in Iraq by the end of this year, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today.

But Nelson said any plans to withdraw troops would depend on how successful Iraq was at taking control of its own security.

''I can assure you that the next six months in al Muthanna is going to be extremely important for our future involvement in Iraq,'' Nelson told Australian television.

''If we can see that the provisional Iraqi government in al Muthanna can successfully manage its own affairs and its own security then I would expect that by the end of this year we would be starting to think about our future deployment.'' ''It's a process of waiting and seeing how things go.'' Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his forces would in July take over security in the southern province of Muthanna, where 460 Australian troops have been helping protect non-combat Japanese troops.

Japan announced yesterday that it would withdraw its troops by the end of July.

Australia said it would reassign its troops to Tallil in Muthanna from Samawah. Nelson said they would help Iraqi forces secure the country's border with Saudi Arabia.

He initially said Australia would help Iraq secure its border with Syria, but corrected himself today.

Australia was one of the first nations to commit forces to the Iraq war and now has about 1,300 military personnel in and around Iraq. ''The point will come, and I expect in the not-too-distant future, where the Iraqi government itself will say to us and the other 26 countries 'thank you very much for all of the help you have given us, we now believe we are in a position to look after our own affairs','' Nelson said.

''And at that point Australia will then move to withdraw.'' REUTERS PDS BST0609