The White House on Monday termed the US relationship with Pakistan “both extremely important and extremely complicated”, saying American officials would return to Islamabad to conclude negotiations on reopening of NATO supply routes when Islamabad is ready to do so.
US President Barack Obama’s spokesman said technical arrangements had been largely completed and at the same time admitted that other issues remained to be resolved towards the goal of restoration of Pakistani land routes that transport NATO supplies into landlocked Afghanistan.
At the daily briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed reports that a US team, that negotiated with their Pakistani counterparts for about six weeks, was returning home. Experts saw withdrawal of the technical team as a failure for efforts to secure a deal on revival of Pakistani land routes into Afghanistan but the White House official’s remarks suggested that it did not represent a complete breakdown. “Most of the technical arrangements have been worked out but there are several issues outstanding. We believe that all can be resolved and we remain ready to conclude this agreement as soon as Pakistan is ready,” the spokesman told the daily press briefing. Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington Sherry Rehman, meanwhile, said the US withdrawal of its technical team did not indicate an institutional pullback. “I don’t really see it as an institutional pullout, but really, that question is for the US administration to answer.” “For our part, I have been saying this again and again, Pakistan is seeking to be part of the solution for NATO and the US as they transfer security in Afghanistan, not an obstacle,” she said in a statement emailed by the Pakistani embassy.
“On the NATO supplies, the way forward is more related to other issues. We certainly did not close the GLOCs for leveraging a price advantage. They were not closed in a fit of pique or on impulse. These were closed as a decision of the DCC after 24 Pakistani soldiers were martyred at the Salala checkpost in November last, absent an expression of remorse,” the Pakistani ambassador added. The Pentagon and State Department had earlier confirmed that the team was returning to Washington for debriefing. “We saw it is the right move to withdraw,” Carney said in response to a question at the White House briefing. “We are ready to send officials back to Islamabad when the Pakistani government is ready to conclude the agreement.” “It certainly remains our goal to complete an agreement as soon as possible and I would note that the Pakistani government has said the same thing. “ The spokesman observed that the remaining issues that needed to be resolved between Pakistan and the US did not require the kind of technical people who have largely completed discussions on technical aspects of the ground lines of communications.
Officials will return when Islamabad is ready for deal: White House
