No deal with Pakistan on supply routes

CHICAGO - Agence France-Presse

President Barack Obama says the U.S. is making “diligent progress” on re-opening supply routes from Pakistan to Afghanistan, although no deal is reached.

Obama and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai spoke briefly with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the NATO summit on May 21. U.S. officials had indicated Obama would not hold a formal bilateral meeting with Zardari as long as the supply route matter remained unresolved. The U.S. and Pakistan are in a dispute over Pakistan’s closure of key trucking routes used to send supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the supply lines after a U.S. airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the government had asked negotiators to expedite an agreement, but that “no timeline can be given.” Obama says Zardari told him these issues could get “worked through.”