Washington, June 12 (ANI): An U.S. expert on South Asian issues has said it is now impossible for Pakistan and the U.S. to reach any kind of deal due to their crisis-ridden relationship.

There are always peaks and valleys in any diplomatic relations, but in U.S.-Pak relations it's been almost all valleys for a good period of time now. The question now is, how much lower can the valleys go? said Malou Innocent, a specialist in South Asian issues at the Cato Institute in Washington.

Even with the killing of the two dozen border guards, I think it would have been possible to reach a deal on the border crossings, if it weren't for the broader deterioration, said Innocent.

The over-all crisis in the relationship won out, making it impossible to reach any kind of deal, she added.

The U.S. called off negotiations with Pakistan aimed at reopening supply routes for the war in Afghanistan, further deteriorating their relations, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said the U.S. has no plans for resuming the talks, and suggested that a return to negotiations was now in Pakistan's hands.

Pakistan closed the NATO supply routes last November, after U.S. forces launched airstrikes against a Pakistani border outpost, killing two dozen border soldiers. Pakistan has been demanding an apology for the same, but U.S. is unwilling to offer one.

More recently, NATO commanders have openly criticized Pakistan for harboring Taliban forces that cross over the border and target U.S. and NATO troops.

Innocent notes that the prospect of completing the Afghanistan drawdown via the northern route will continue to be an incentive for the U.S. to patch things up with Pakistan, for the simple reason that the northern route is at least three times costlier than going through Pakistan. (ANI)