Obama, Zardari meet briefly on sidelines of NATO summit

With the US pushing Pakistan to reopen a critical supply route into Afghanistan, President Obama and Pakistans President Asif Ali Zardari chatted briefly on the margins of the NATO summit this afternoon, according to the White House.With the NATO summit set to wrap up later today, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance wont complete a deal with the Pakistanis to reopen critical supply routes into Afghanistan before the close of the international conference.We didnt expect an agreement on the Pakistan transit route to be reached at this summit — that was not planned, Rasmussen said.The Pakistanis closed the U.S. military supply routes into Afghanistan as retribution after a cross-border strike by NATO last November left 24 of their soldiers dead. Zardari accepted an invitation last week to attend the summit, raising speculation that a deal might be in the works.The White House said Obama and Zardari — along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai — spoke briefly before summit participants gathered for a family photo.The Obama administration has reportedly chafed at Pakistans call for the U.S. to pay $5,000 for every truck that the U.S. military wants to send through Pakistan into Afghanistan. Its a steep price, but the Pakistanis have argued that its cheaper than continuing the practice of NATO using alternative, longer routes through Central Asia.Although the White House stressed, ahead of the start of the conference, that they didnt expect a resolution on the impasse during the Chicago summit, negotiations with the Pakistanis on the matter have loomed large. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat down with Zardari on the sidelines of the conference on Sunday.