CANBERRA, Australia, July 28 (UPI) -- Australia will begin withdrawing peacekeeping troops from Timor-Leste within weeks amid looming new deployments to Afghanistan and possibly Lebanon.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer tipped the move in remarks at the forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia, The Australian reported Friday.
"I think in every case where we have troops deployed, we need to make the point that there needs to be a process in place where the locals are trying to solve their own domestic political problems," he said.
"I think the point is, we can certainly start downsizing, in terms of the military."
Australia sent hundreds of soldiers and police to Timor-Leste in May amid ethnic violence that erupted in and around Dili, the capital. About 1,300 Australian peacekeepers are there now, together with soldiers and police from New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal.
Timor-Leste Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta has appealed to other nations for an 800-man international police force to remain deployed in his country for at least five years while efforts are made to completely rebuild the nation's security organizations.
Australia -- with an active duty defense force of about 50,000 - currently has 4,200 troops overseas, including half the army's infantry units. The deployments include southern Afghanistan and Iraq. Australian forces could also become an integral component of any U.N. peacekeeping force sent to Lebanon.
