President Aleksander Kwasniewski said there had been no final decision on when to withdraw forces, but said Warsaw was considering the late 2005 deadline with the hopes that January elections in Iraq would bring stability to the country.

Downer told reporters in Adelaide that Poland's proposed withdrawal date was a long way away and a lot of progress would have been made by then, but would not have any impact on troop numbers in the region.

"It doesn't mean very much. It's a very long way away now," Downer said.

He said only that Australian troops would remain in Iraq "until we finish the job".

"I am not speculating on any time about when they would do the job," he added.

Downer also released a letter from Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Salih asking Australia to maintain its current level of troops, saying it showed Australia's Labor opposition would be wrong to withdraw the troops by Christmas, as it has pledged to do if it wins the October 9 election.

"The letter from the acting prime minister makes the point and makes it very clear that for us to cut and run now would just be complete folly," he said.

Poland last year took command of a multinational security force in central Iraq that currently includes about 6,000 troops - among them more than 2,400 Polish soldiers.