WASHINGTON: The US State Department said Monday that the United States and Pakistan have made “considerable progress” in talks aimed at reopening Nato supply routes into Afghanistan.

“Our team is still in Islamabad working on the land route issue. My understanding this morning is that they have made considerable progress but they are still working,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“They are not yet finished with the Pakistanis,” Nuland told reporters, declining to give details on the substance of the talks between the two sides.

“But we're having a full review with the government of Pakistan on how this transit system works and all of the issues are on the table in that context,”she added.

Islamabad shut its Afghan border to Nato supplies after US air strikes killed 24 soldiers on November 26, provoking a major crisis in bilateral ties on top of the outcry from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May.