Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said on Friday that his country would continue the planned withdrawal of troops from Iraq despite the decision of the United States to freeze its troop withdrawals.

U.S. President George W Bush has ordered an open-ended halt to US troop withdrawals from Iraq, warning the strife-torn country remains too fragile five years after the end of the Iraqi war.

Fitzgibbon told ABC Radio that the U.S. decision wouldn't change the Australian government 's commitment to withdraw its remaining combat troops in June.

"We have a very firm pre-election commitment to bring our combat troops home - we intend to do so, they will be home mid- year," he said.

"We have discussed these issues with the president and the United States more generally."

But he said Australia would not completely walk away from the war-torn country.

"We have an obligation to do what we can on the non-military side to rebuild their country," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)