Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed Monday that Pakistan and the United States are haggling over the issue of payment for trucks transiting Pakistan on their way to supplying international troops in Afghanistan, DPA reported.
In an interview with CNN, Karzai was asked about the issue.
"I can't pass judgement on the fee that Pakistan is charging, but that is an issue," Karzai said.
The New York Times reported that Pakistan was demanding 5,000 dollars for passage of each truck, a 20-fold increase over the 250 dollars paid previously.
Pakistan closed the vital supply routes last year after a US airstrike that killed Pakistan soldiers at an outpost on the border to Afghanistan.
The United States had pushed negotiations on reopening the transit route, leading up to the NATO summit Sunday in Chicago of 60 countries - the alliance and its partners. The meeting ended Monday with leaders charting the way forward in Afghanistan after foreign troops are to withdraw in 2014.
NATO only last week invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to the Chicago summit.
US President Barack Obama met Monday with Zardari on the sidelines of the NATO meeting. Obama said that he emphasized that Pakistan needs to be part of a solution in Afghanistan, which is fighting Taliban insurgents who operate in part out of safe havens inside lawless parts of Pakistan.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that a deal on the Pakistani supply routes never expected during the summit.
Pakistan had previously demanded an apology for the November bombing incident at the Afghan border, but there appeared to be movement this month toward resolution.
On Saturday, Pakistan officials said that the government had allowed four trucks carrying office supplies for the US embassy in Kabul to cross the border, which was interpreted as a sign that key NATO supply routes would soon reopen.
Karzai told CNN that he had met recently with Pakistani leaders and had raised the issue of the transport route and per truck charges.
...