Washington: The US has said it is continuing scaled-down discussions with Pakistan on the re-opening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.
"The team that negotiated directly with Pakistan has mostly left Pakistan. It's important to note though that we do continue dialogue through ODRP (Office of Defence Representative) in Islamabad," Geo News on Wednesday quoted Department of Defence Press Secretary George Little as saying.
"So it is not as if we that we have completely cut off discussions altogether," he said, adding: "We continue to have dialogue on this issue. Yes the negotiating team is coming home for what we hope will be a short period of time."
"We hope that GLOCs (ground lines of communication) are opened soon. And we look forward to having our officials go back to Islamabad to seal the deal at some point in near future," Little said at a Pentagon briefing.
The press secretary would not go into specifics of negotiations but believed there was a window of opportunity to reopen the ground supply routes.
Pentagon spokesperson Captain John Kirby added the teams had themselves taken it as far as they can right and now it was up to Pakistan to make decisions.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 16:43