* U.S. official says deal still expected in near future
By Missy Ryan
CHICAGO, May 18 (Reuters) – The Obama administration may be
not be able to strike a long-awaited agreement with Pakistan to
help supply Western soldiers in Afghanistan as hoped in time for
a major NATO summit in Chicago this weekend, a U.S. official
said.
“There’s a distinct possibility that we may not see an
agreement before the end of this weekend,” the U.S. official
said on condition of anonymity. “But talks are progressing and
we do expect to reach a deal in the near future.”
Earlier this week, as Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari
accepted a last-minute NATO invitation to the May 20-21 summit,
many U.S. officials were optimistic they could finally make a
deal to reopen key NATO ground routes into Afghanistan. Pakistan
shut the routes in protest when U.S. aircraft killed 24
Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border in November.
Zardari’s appearance at the summit was seen as a potential
breakthrough after the border deaths plunged perennially poor
U.S.-Pakistan ties into a deep freeze for months.
Now, as the two countries continue to disagree about details
of a possible deal, that optimism appears to have faded.
NATO nations, grappling with severe fiscal pressure at home,
are anxious to reach an agreement under which Pakistan would
allow NATO trucks to once again travel on Pakistani roads, in
part because shipping supplies into land-locked Afghanistan from
the north is much more expensive.
Being able to transit across Pakistan becomes even more
important as U.S. commanders prepare for the monumental
logistical task of withdrawing most of the 128,000 NATO soldiers
in Afghanistan – and the equipment they have accumulated since
2001 – by the end of 2014.
Negotiations between U.S. and Pakistani officials in
Islamabad have dragged on.
From the beginning, Zardari’s government has demanded a
high-level apology for the border deaths, which NATO said were
accidental but which enraged Pakistanis.
The Obama administration, loathe to expose itself to further
Republican criticism, has refused to apologize.
The U.S. official said a “wide gulf” remained on the amount
NATO nations would be charged for transporting equipment into
Afghanistan, the central stumbling block in those talks.
Pakistan says its roads require millions of dollars in
repairs after years of NATO truck going back and forth. The
amount that Pakistani officials believe should be charged is far
higher than what U.S. officials have offered.
“The fees proposed by the Pakistanis are unacceptable, not
just to the United States but to our NATO allies,” the official
said.
Lack of an agreement could add strains to interactions
between President Barack Obama and other senior U.S. officials
and Pakistani leaders during the summit. U.S. officials have
long complained that Pakistan has failed to act sufficiently
against militants fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The White House said on Thursday that Obama had no plans for
a one-on-one meeting with Zardari.
Still, Zardari’s government supports reopening the supply
routes once a deal can be reached that satisfies both sides. For
that reason the Obama administration expects to ultimately find
an arrangement on the supply routes and on the precise amount of
U.S. military assistance Washington owes Pakistan.
