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The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Saturday urged the international community to help pay for strong Afghan security troops despite worldwide economic pressure.

US is spending around $12 billion a year to train the Afghan security troops, which is expected to rise to 352,000 men to take over security when Nato combat forces withdraw by the end of 2014.

"To sustain sufficient security, the Afghan security forces require adequate financial support," Mr Panetta said.

The United States has predicted that the annual price tag of training and equipping Afghan security forces in coming years will be around $6 billion.

The US wants the international community to contribute $1 billion per year after 2014 in addition to the United States' assistance.

Meanwhile, the British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has said that Nato ministers would consider two critical questions: "What should be the long term size of the Afghan security forces and how are we going to share the cost of supporting that between different members of the international community. Those are discussions we have started here and we will continue at Chicago."

The two-day meeting in Brussels of ministers from Nato's 28 nations and 22 other countries taking part in the war in Afghanistan is meant to pave the way for a Nato summit in May in Chicago.

The Afghan army and police are scheduled to grow to more than 350,000 members by 2014. But some have proposed that the force can be safely cut in order to reduce its cost.

The long-term size of the Afghan force and cost of maintaining it will be a key topic at a Nato summit in Chicago in May.

Five days ago the US Defence Minister had said that the United States hoped to end its combat mission in Afghanistan by the middle of next year.

The timetable described by US Defence Minister appeared to be the first time the United States has said it would shift into a supporting role, training and advising Afghan troops, by next year.

His remarks came as France also said that it will end combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2013.

But Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Thursday said that Nato will stand by its previously agreed plan to wind down operation in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 with any changes to the schedule coordinated with allies.

The US has around 90,000 troops in Afghanistan, fighting insurgents. It has lost 1,890 soldiers in the Afghan war since 2001.