"Indispensable" and "Essential" UK’s PM David Cameron an official visit

Obama and Cameron were to hold one-on-one Oval Office talks, likely to be dominated by the showdown with Iran and strategic problems in Afghanistan, and hold a press conference and then join in the pageantry of a state dinner. The president and first Lady Michelle Obama welcomed the British leader and his wife Samantha with full military and ceremonial honors on the South Lawn of the White House on an unseasonably warm March morning. Obama said the long alliance, deepened in World War II, was "essential, it is indispensable to the security and prosperity we seek, not only for our citizens but for people around the world," Obama said. He also joked about one previous occasion when the British came to the White House -- sending a colonial army to burn it down in 1814. "It has now been 200 years since the British came here to the White House under somewhat different circumstances -- they made quite an impression -- they really lit up the place." Obama also tried out British vernacular, telling Cameron he was looking forward to a "good natter" and wanted to keep the US-British relationship in a "top notch" state. Cameron also praised what is popularly known as a "special relationship" between the two countries. "When the chips are down, Britain and America know that we can always count on each other," he said. "We are allies who are not just prepared to say the right thing but to do the right thing and do it in the right way," he said. The talks are likely to be dominated by the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, fears that NATO war strategyin Afghanistan may be unraveling and the failure to stop President Bashar al-Assad s crackdown in Syria. Cameron s visit is described as an official one and not a state one, as Britain s head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who hosted Obama s visit to London last year, is not attending. He and British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed not to "give up" the mission. A string of recent incidents, including a massacre of Afghan civilians by a US soldier on Sunday, and deep public fatigue with the war, have prompted speculation that the pace of troop withdrawals could be speeded up. But Obama, confirming that NATO planned to transition to a support role in Afghanistan in 2013, before a full withdrawal in 2014, said his existing plan -- to bring home an additional 23,000 troops this summer -- still stood. "I don t anticipate at this stage that we re going to be making any sudden additional changes to the plan that we currently have," Obama said at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden with Cameron. Obama promised a "robust" coalition presence in Afghanistan during this year s fighting season to stop the Taliban regaining momentum, but left open the option of looking at the size of the foreign troop footprint after that. Both leaders insisted the painful sacrifices endured by both their militaries had been justified by the rout of Al-Qaeda, which had prevented terror plots against their countries.