Pakistan and the US are expected to make some headway to settle their row over future taxation on NATO trucks this week when a senior official of the Obama administration, Peter Levoy, holds talks with the Pakistani leadership on the thorny issue. The compromising amount of taxation on NATO vehicles will pave the way for the reopening of supplies meant for US led international forces in the country’s western neighboring state, which Islamabad had blocked last year after NATO aircraft attacked Pakistani border posts and killed 24 soldiers. Until now, US Deputy Ambassador in Islamabad Richard Hoagland has been heading the American delegation that was holding talks with Pakistani officials on the reopening of NATO supplies, but now the Obama administration has decided to send the US Assistant Defence Secretary Peter Levoy to Islamabad to lead the Washington’s team. Being a senior official from Washington, Levoy would be having the full mandate to take some decision on taxation meant for NATO trucks and containers and hence the talks could make some tangible progress and lead to the breaking of stalemate that has bedeviled the Pakistan-US ties for months now. “At present, the two sides are working on important proposals to end the deadlock over NATO supplies.
