WAR UPDATE: Loss of supply lines in Pakistan costs $100M a month, says Panetta.

The continued closure of Pakistani supply routes to U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan is costing the Pentagon nearly $100 million a month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Congress on Wednesday.

American military planners have been forced to use supply lines in Central Asia, known as the Northern Distribution Network, to move men and materiel to and from Afghanistan since last November, after an errant U.S. airstrike ended in the deaths of Pakistani troops. . . .

U.S.-Pakistani talks on the issue have since been suspended and the U.S. negotiators were pulled from the country on Monday.

If only we had someone who could solve this with smart diplomacy or something.