Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said on Monday the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq has not split the alliance with the United States as predicted by the coalition.
The 550 Australian troops based in southern Iraq have formally ended their mission and begun preparations for withdrawal.
Smith said the Labor party had honored its pre-election commitment to withdraw the troops and disproved the opposition party's prediction of the consequences.
"They said the alliance would be split, that this would be a disaster," Australian Associated Press quoted the minister as saying in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia.
"And what you're now seeing is the withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq in an orderly way in consultation with our allies the United States, but also in consultation with the United Kingdom and the Iraqi government," Smith said.
Asked whether the troops' job was done in Iraq, the foreign minister said it was the right time to withdraw the troops.
"We believe the withdrawal of our troops has been appropriate for some time, that's why we gave the election commitment," he said.
Source:Xinhua
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