US optimistic about resumption of NATO supply-line

The United States is quite optimistic about resumption of land route for NATO forces battling in Afghanistan, saying they can get a positive answer from Islamabad.

Pentagon spokesperson George Little while speaking to the media said, “. It’s important to note though that we do continue dialogue through ODRP (Office of Defence Representative) in Islamabad. So it is not as if we that we have completely cut off discussions altogether”.

He further stated that Obama administration looks forward to having its negotiators return to Pakistan to finalize agreement in coming days.

He expressed these remarks a day after Washington decided to pull out its negotiators from Islamabad without reaching an agreement on the resumption of NATO supply-line.

Pakistan blocked land route for allied forces battling in Afghanistan since November, 2011, after NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani troops at the Salala check-post.

The Pentagon spokesperson was of the opinion that they haven’t cut off dialogue process altogether and will continue negotiations.

Replying to a query, he clarified that supply via Pakistan was just one of the many options that the United States used, indicating that this was economical rather vital.

George Little was of the opinion that they could comfortably continue their supplies to allied forces through Central Asian States but it was much costlier as compared to Pakistani routes.

He noted, “We continue to have dialogue on this issue. Yes the negotiating team is coming home for what we hope will be a short period of time. We hope that GLOCs (ground lines of communication) are opened soon. And we look forward to having our officials go back to Islamabad to seal the deal at some point in near future”.

The Pentagon spokesperson didn’t answer directly to questions about the Islamabad’s demand of an official apology over the Salala attack.

He, however, expressed optimism saying that they had reached a deal on a range of technical issues with Islamabad and it was an adequate time to move on.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 13 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.