Tuesday 12 June 2012

NATO supply lines


US walks out of Pakistan supply route talks
United States negotiators have quit talks in Pakistan after failing to reach a deal to reopen a supply route to NATO troops in Afghanistan


ABC,
12 June, 2012

Pakistan shut its border to NATO supply convoys in November after a botched US air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said negotiations had been going on for about six weeks but said: "The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time."

He said there was no scheduled date for a resumption of the negotiations.

But the US insisted the departure of the negotiating team did not mean Washington had given up discussions with Islamabad.

"That's not to be taken as a sign of our unwillingness to continue the dialogue with Pakistanis on this issue," Mr Little said.

He said the negotiators were "prepared to return at any moment".

The roads through Pakistan are a crucial logistical link for NATO and will be key to plans for a large-scale withdrawal of combat troops and equipment from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

US officials have so far rejected Pakistani proposals to charge fees of several thousand dollars for each alliance truck crossing the border.

Washington has also refused to issue an explicit apology for the air raid which killed the Pakistani soldiers.

With the Pakistani roads shut, the US-led NATO force has relied on cargo flights and northern supply routes negotiated with Russia and a network of governments in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

But the northern routes are much longer and more expensive than the Pakistan roads.

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