Zardari will attend Chicago summit: FO

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will accompany Zardari to Chicago, says foreign ministry.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will attend a key NATO summit in Chicago on the future of Afghanistan, Islamabad confirmed on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would accompany Zardari to Chicago, the foreign ministry said.

The cabinet on Wednesday welcomed a last-minute NATO invitation to Zardari, clearing the way for him to travel after Islamabad boycotted the last major talks on Afghanistan in Bonn last December over US air strikes that killed 24 of its troops.

By going to Chicago, Pakistan hopes to ease its international isolation and boost its leverage over the future of Afghanistan, as Western countries pull out their combat forces by 2014.

Pakistan is expected to lift a six-month blockade on NATO supplies travelling through its territory imposed in the wake of the November air strikes, but is still in negotiations with US officials on logistics and fees.

On Wednesday, the government ordered officials negotiating with the United States to finalise an agreement as quickly as possible, to allow thousands of trucks and oil tankers to carry non-lethal supplies from Karachi to landlocked Afghanistan.

Sources familiar with the talks say transit fees for the vehicles are the main sticking point and the border will probably reopen by early next week.

Islamabad is looking to more than double the payments, which could earn the country up to $1 million a day.