Some countries expressed concern about the whereabouts of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the lack of formal acknowledgement of defeat from his regime.

"There are difficulties ahead, the first difficulty is in effect to complete the war," said Australia's Defence Minister Robert Hill.

Australia, which contributed a small military force to the US-led invasion, will join the United States and Britain in forming a transitional authority in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard told reporters.

"Australia has decided that this country will join the United States and the United Kingdom as partners in the coalition transitional authority in Iraq, which will be involved in overall administrative matters on the pathway towards transferring power in that country to the Iraqi people," he said.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters: "The war is still going on. We wish that the people of Iraq will drop their guns and walk on the path to peace."

"We hope this will end soon without an increase in the number of casualties," Fukuda said.

"Fighting is not yet over," said a spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Still, developments in the last 24 hours have been swift and dramatic."

"We welcome the latest news that gives hope for a quick end to hostilities. The people of Iraq have suffered greatly. The sooner peace and order return to Iraq, the better it is for them," it said.

India's external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said: "Our concern has always been for the immediate end to war, early withdrawal of forces, the humanitarian needs of the people of Iraq and the question of maintaining the sovereignty of Iraq."

"These are the concerns at the moment in an extremely fluid situation."

Many countries called for the United Nations to have some input in postwar Iraq's interim government.

"The UN should play a leading role, especially in the reconstruction of Iraq, with respect to how the postwar reconstruction should be arranged politically and economically," China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

"The Chinese government is very much concerned with the difficulties confronting the Iraqi people and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people," Liu said, adding that Saddam's regime had now collapsed and the United States was risking a "humanitarian disaster" with continued fighting.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told AFP: "We want early end to hostilities. We want Iraq people to have control of their country and we want the UN to play a role."

Indonesia also called on the US-led coalition to keep its pre-war promises to the Iraqi people.

"The US should make true its word to free the people from the pressure of the regime in power and defend the interests of the Iraqi people themselves," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said.

Muslim-majority Malaysia, also calling for a role for the UN, reiterated its belief that the US-led invasion was illegal in terms of international law and the UN charter.

It demanded proof that the collapsed regime had weapons of mass destruction -- the reason the United States gave for going to war.

"Malaysia underlines the importance of resuming weapons inspections by independent and impartial UN weapons inspectors, particularly in the verification of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," it said in a statement.

Fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Pakistan expressed grief at the fall of Baghdad and called on the Iraqi people to resist US designs to "enslave them".

"We pray that Iraqis would continue to resist American tyranny and terror and we believe victory will come to them in the long run," Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the powerful six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) religious alliance told AFP.

Afghanistan, where the hardline Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led coalition about 18 months ago, said the reaction of the Iraqi people to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein should be the litmus test for the international community.

"If the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people are satisfied and happy with the changes, we are happy for them," foreign office spokesman Omar Samad told AFP.

SPACE.WIRE