America pulls out negotiators from Pakistan

The United States pulled out negotiators from Pakistan after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on resumption of land route for NATO forces battling in Afghanistan, showing fresh signs of plummeting ties between Islamabad and Washington.

US Department of Defence spokesperson Commander Bill Speaks while speaking to the media said the dialogue panel returned home as it had completed technical consultations with Pakistani officials.

He observed, “The US is ready to send officials back to Islamabad when the Pakistan government is ready to conclude the agreement, and the diplomat remains in place to continue working on the process”.

In his view, the goal for the US was to finalize an agreement at the earliest. The American negotiators had been in Islamabad for about a half and a month as Obama administration had believed that they were close to a deal with Pakistan to reopen the land route for allied forces.

Earlier, George Little, the Pentagon spokesperson said that the negotiators was coming back to the United States and no breakthrough was about to happen.

He noted, “The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time. That’s not to be taken as a sign of our unwillingness to continue the dialogue with Pakistanis on this issue”.

He, however, stated that the US would continue to negotiate with Pakistan and the departure of the dialogue team did not mean Washington had given up discussions with Islamabad or that the pullout had been imposed on them.

Officials in the Foreign Office also cited similar reasons saying that the negotiators left Pakistan after concluding technical consultations.

Foreign Office spokesperson Moazam Ali Khan while speaking to the media said he was not looking this development as a breakdown in the bilateral ties.

A US defense official, Peter Lavoy, arrived in Islamabad last week to try to help finish a deal but he was refused a meeting with Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

It would have been considered unusual for the US official, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, to secure a meeting with Gen. Kayani, the most senior member of the Pakistani military.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 12 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.