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WASHINGTON: The United States has withdrawn negotiators from Pakistan after talks failed to produce an agreement on reopening vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Monday.
"The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.
The team of negotiators had been in Pakistan for about six weeks, he said, as US officials had believed they were close to a deal with Islamabad to lift the blockade on NATO convoys.
But no breakthrough was imminent and there was no scheduled date for a resumption of the negotiations, Little said.
The United States, however, would continue to maintain a "dialogue" with Pakistan and the departure of the expert negotiating team did not mean Washington had given up discussions with Islamabad, he said.
"That's not to be taken as a sign of our unwillingess to continue the dialogue with Pakistanis on this issue," he said, adding that the negotiators are "prepared to return at any moment."
Members of the negotiating team started to leave over the weekend and the remainder of the negotiators would soon return to the United States, Little said.
The comments came after Pakistan's COAS General Ashfaq Kayani, refused last week to meet US assistant defense secretary Peter Lavoy, who traveled to Pakistan to try to resolve the dispute, officials said.
Lavoy "was hoping to meet with General Kayani to work through this issue," Little said.
AFP
"The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.
The team of negotiators had been in Pakistan for about six weeks, he said, as US officials had believed they were close to a deal with Islamabad to lift the blockade on NATO convoys.
But no breakthrough was imminent and there was no scheduled date for a resumption of the negotiations, Little said.
The United States, however, would continue to maintain a "dialogue" with Pakistan and the departure of the expert negotiating team did not mean Washington had given up discussions with Islamabad, he said.
"That's not to be taken as a sign of our unwillingess to continue the dialogue with Pakistanis on this issue," he said, adding that the negotiators are "prepared to return at any moment."
Members of the negotiating team started to leave over the weekend and the remainder of the negotiators would soon return to the United States, Little said.
The comments came after Pakistan's COAS General Ashfaq Kayani, refused last week to meet US assistant defense secretary Peter Lavoy, who traveled to Pakistan to try to resolve the dispute, officials said.
Lavoy "was hoping to meet with General Kayani to work through this issue," Little said.
AFP