U.S. Withdraws Team from Pakistan Talks on NATO Supply Routes WASHINGTON - The United States has withdrawn a low-level negotiating team from Pakistan in the latest sign that talks to reopen NATO supply routes into neighboring Afghanistan remain stalemated, American officials said Monday. Withdrawing the team, made up of technical specialists, was not a political slap at the Pakistanis, but rather a practical necessity, the officials said. The team had been in Pakistan for 45 days and is returning home while higher-level political bargaining continues. A senior American official said Monday that talks on reopening the supply routes would continue, but it was unclear when the technical team would return. "The talks have not collapsed," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the deliberations. They have come to the point where there is no reason for them to stay because they have gone as far as they can. When they have come to the point where a political decision is made, they can come back to tidy up the pieces. A senior Pentagon official, Peter Lavoy, left Islamabad after a weekend of talks with Pakistani counterparts failed to break the six-month impasse. Pakistan closed the supply routes last November after an American airstrike mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border. "Technical consultations have largely been completed, so it has been determined that they can return home," said Cmdr. William H. Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman. We are ready to send officials back to Islamabad when the Pakistani Government is ready to conclude the agreement. Commander Speaks said that senior officials at the United States Embassy in Islamabad would continue to oversee discussions. "It remains our goal to complete an agreement as soon as possible," he said. The two sides have been bickering over of a range of issues. Pakistan, stung by the suspension of American military assistance last year, initially demanded a fee of $5,000 for each truck that crossed its territory from the port in Karachi to Afghanistan. Before the November attack, NATO had paid $250. Pakistan later lowered that demand to about $3,000 a truck; the United States has offered $1,000 per vehicle. The Pakistanis have also asked for an indemnity waiver in case American cargo is damaged, for some repairs to the port of Karachi, and for road improvements near the border crossings, a senior American official said. They have also asked for a more formal apology for the fatal airstrike last November. The withdrawal of the technical specialists comes after both Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and General Martin E. Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed growing frustration with Pakistan's counterterrorism's campaign. On a visit to India last Wednesday, Mr. Panetta dismissed concerns that drone strikes against leaders of Al Qaeda in Pakistan violate that country's sovereignty. "We have made clear to the Pakistanis that the United States of America is going to defend ourselves against those who attack us," Mr. Panetta said. At the same time, General Dempsey said the United States was "extraordinarily dissatisfied" with Pakistan's efforts to combat the Haqqani network, Islamic militants operating from Pakistan. Eric Schmitt reported from Washington, and Declan Walsh from Islamabad, Pakistan.