U.S. 'walks out' of supply route reopening talks with Pakistan

London - The U.S. has temporarily pulled out of talks with Pakistan over re-opening vital supply routes to the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

"The decision was reached to bring the team home for a short period of time," BBC News quoted Pentagon spokesman George Little, as saying.

Pakistan however insisted that the talks had not broken down and they were "still on".

Pakistan had shut the NATO supply routes in November last year after a NATO air strike near the Afghan-Pakistani border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan has demanded an apology by the U.S. for the deadly sir strike as a pre-condition to reopen the routes.

Part of the U.S. team left Islamabad over the weekend, and the rest will return to the U.S. shortly, Little said.

Pakistan's demand for 5,000 dollars for each truck has also been a sticking point.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Moazzam Khan said the talks were still on and it was "wrong to say that they have broken down".

Khan said some members of the U.S. team were involved in the technical aspects of the negotiations and they have been called back after they had given their input.