The bulk of Australian troops will be out of Afghanistan by 2014 as scheduled but Prime Minister Julia Gillard has assured the Asian nation that her commitment will be sustained further in the form of development aids.

Following a sideline meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the ongoing NATO summit in Chicago, Ms Gillard said on Monday that Australia "will not abandon Afghanistan."

"We will continue to be working with you," the Prime Minister personally informed Mr Karzai during their private discussion.

Her pledge translates to as much as $300 million of financial commitment to the impoverished nation, which will commence rolling out on 2015 and will last for at least three years.

The financial package serves as an upgrade of the existing $165 million that Canberra has been contributing to NATO's Afghan mission, presumably the big chunk of which finances the training of Afghanistan's security forces, which will take over from NATO troops once majority of the coalition forces pulls out by the end of 2014.

Ms Gillard added that taxpayers have been contributing in improving the lives of many Afghans as the "aid money is already doing good work in infrastructure, in the education of children, including girls, and in the provision of health services."

In his response, Mr Karzai said that the financial assistance extended by Australia will lead to "a happy day for Afghanistan."

"We will remember this," the Afghan leader was quoted by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying on Monday, adding that Australia has been consistently displaying kindness towards the Afghan people by also risking the lives of about 1500 Diggers stationed in the war-torn country.

The deal was sealed as U.S. President Barack Obama scrambles to win financial commitments from NATO members, which will be used to fund the estimated $4 billion required to sustain the existence of Afghanistan's security forces.

In a statement, Mr Obama expressed confidence that the four-day NATO gathering will produce a common stand for allied nations to support "the strategy that we've laid out," which will be implemented once most of NATO's thousands of multi-national soldiers have exited the country next year.

While it remains unclear if Australia will be a major participant to NATO's post-2014 commitments in Afghanistan, Ms Gillard has earlier hinted that select Australian commandos could still operate in the country after the Diggers' formal withdrawal over the next two years.

"I have said we are leaving the door open for a potential role for Special Forces under the right mandate," Ms Gillard told ABC.

She clarified too that "there is still some time to work through what all of those arrangements post-2014 will look like."