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"The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short periodof 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 dealwith Islamabad to lift the blockade on NATO convoys. But no breakthrough was imminent and there was no scheduled datefor 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 didnot mean Washington had given up discussions with Islamabad, hesaid. "That's not to be taken as a sign of our unwillingess to continuethe dialogue with Pakistanis on this issue," he said, adding thatthe negotiators are "prepared to return at any moment." Pakistan shut its border to NATO supply convoys in November after abotched US air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Members of the negotiating team started to leave over the weekendand the remainder of the negotiators would soon return to theUnited States, Little said. The comments came after Pakistan's army chief, General AshfaqKayani, refused last week to meet US assistant defense secretaryPeter Lavoy, who traveled to Pakistan to try to resolve thedispute, officials said. Lavoy "was hoping to meet with General Kayani to work through thisissue," Little said. The roads through Pakistan are a crucial logistical link for NATOas it plans a large-scale withdrawal of combat troops and equipmentby the end of 2014. But US officials have so far rejected Pakistani proposals to chargesteep fees of several thousand dollars for each alliance truckcrossing the border. Washington has also refused to issue an explicit apology for thelethal air raid. With the Pakistani roads shut, the US-led NATO force has relied oncargo flights and northern supply routes -- negotiated with Russiaand a network of governments in Central Asia and the Caucasus. But the northern routes are much longer and more expensive than thePakistan roads. "The more options you have available to you when you're mounting amajor logistics effort, like supplying the war effort inAfghanistan, the better," Little said. "As a technical matter, we could in theory do our work without theground supply routes. It would certainly be better to have themopen and less costly." The stalled negotiations also coincide with remarks last Thursdayby US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in which he accused Islamabadof failing to crack down on Haqqani insurgents operating insidePakistan and attacking US-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Hydraulic Crawler Drills , China Mud Pump, and more. For more , please visit core drilling today!
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