NO TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWAL OF AUSTRALIAN TROOPS FROM IRAQ: PM.

CANBERRA, Feb 1 Asia Pulse - There was no sense in timetabling the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

He said pulling troops out of the war-torn country now its democratic election was complete would give comfort to terrorists, and Australian forces would remain in Iraq for as long as they had a job to do.

"I don't think there's any sense in timetabling the withdrawal of Australian troops," Mr Howard told reporters in Singapore.

"I think any indication at the present time that countries are wanting to leave before the job is completed will give comfort to the murderers and the terrorists.

"We will keep our forces there while they have a job to do, all the information I have as of now is that they do have a job to do, a very important job to do, including the training of the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police, that will become an even more important issue as time goes by as more and more responsibility is assumed by the locals.

"This ...