ISLAMABAD: Pakistani negotiators have proposed a fee of about $5,000 for each NATO shipping container and tanker that transits its territory by land into and out of Afghanistan.

The amount is a key sticking point in discussions about the terms of a deal that would allow the traffic to resume, about six months after Pakistan closed its border crossings, according to US and Pakistani officials.

Officials said yesterday that a deal was imminent, after they reached agreement in principle on reopening the transit corridors. But the details are being negotiated. "The framework is ready, but we are now looking at rates," a Pakistani official said.

A US official emphasized that the United States has not agreed to any figure. According to officials from both countries, Pakistan proposed the figure after calculating its total outlays for damaged infrastructure — primarily wear and tear on its roads from the heavy vehicles — as well as security costs and a newly imposed tariff.

Pakistani officials said they had also taken into account their belief that NATO, by using alternative, far longer transport routes through Central Asia, is paying at least double the amount they have requested.

Nonetheless, payment for what are known as the Pakistani GLOCs, for Ground Lines of Communication, has been difficult for the Pentagon to swallow, because access previously was considered free. But other US officials have pointed out that the United States has given Pakistan billions over the past decade as compensation for its counterterrorism efforts. That money is expected to be discontinued as the new arrangements are put in place.

Pakistan says it is still owed more than $3 billion for past operations. The United States puts the figure at about $1.3 billion.

The transport agreement is being considered as a matter separate from other aspects of the bilateral security relationship, including Pakistan's rejection of US drone attacks on militants inside its borders. Discussions on that issue are continuing between senior intelligence officials.

Pakistan closed its borders to the shipments after a US air raid in November along the Afghan border left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead. A US military investigation concluded that both sides were at fault, and the United States expressed regret. But Pakistan called it an unprovoked attack and demanded an apology. Before the closures, more than 70 percent of NATO's supplies in Afghanistan — largely paid for and utilized by the United States — traveled over land from the Pakistani port of Karachi. The route has become even more important to US and coalition forces as they begin the combat troop withdrawal scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.

The pullout will be discussed at a NATO summit in Chicago this weekend. The alliance invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to the summit this week once it became clear that a transit agreement was near.

Some analysts here speculated that Zardari might wait to announce in Chicago any new deal with NATO. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's unwieldy cabinet — 53 ministers in all — took up the matter but ended the day with no decision except to reinforce the Parliament's recommendation that shipments contain no weaponry or lethal supplies.

Plane crash

Two Pakistan Air Force (PAF) light aircraft collided mid-air yesterday, killing four pilots on a routine training mission northwest of Islamabad, police said. It was the sixth PAF crash in seven months and the second in a week, raising concerns over the safety of its largely Chinese and locally made fleet.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.

One of the two-seater propeller Mushshak planes crashed on a house, injuring a girl and an elderly man, and the second fell in nearby fields in the Rashkai area, 160 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of the capital. “Two PAF trainer aircraft collided mid-air. Four pilots were killed, two were trainee pilots and two were instructors,” district police officer Mohammad Hussain said.

“One of the aircraft crashed over a house, injuring a girl and an elderly man, and the second plane crashed in the fields.” Another police official, Hayatullah, who uses only one name, confirmed the casualties. Last Friday, a fighter jet crashed near the southwestern town of Sonmiani but the pilot managed to eject safely.