WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday confirmed Nato forces in Afghanistan will switch to a support role there as planned next year, ahead of a full withdrawal.

Speaking after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama said they had “reaffirmed the transition plan” which sets out “shifting to a support role in 2013 in advance of Afghans taking full responsibility in 2014.

”But Obama did not comment on widespread speculation the plan could result in more US and Nato soldiers coming home more quickly than originally planned following a series of bloody incidents in Afghanistan.

Cameron meanwhile vowed he would not “give up” on the Afghanistan war even though Britain was in the final stages of the military mission there.

“Britain has fought alongside America ever since the start. We have 9,500 soldiers still serving,” he recalled.

“We're going to complete this mission and we're going to do it responsibly and Nato will make sure that Afghanistan never becomes a place for an attack on our countries,” Obama told a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.