United States Walks a Fine Line on Nepal

A Fine Line: Fear of a Maoist victory has the United States walking a tight rope

By John Narayan Parajuli

KOL Report
Washington, June 13 - Last week the Financial Times said that the United States is considering delaying the shipment of M16 rifles to Nepal. The delivery of this shipment was previously approved and was thought to remain unaffected by suspension of military aid following the Feb. 1 royal takeover. But it seems the State Department is under pressure from senators to delay the shipment.
“It’s an issue that’s before us,” said Sean McCormack, the State Department’s new spokesman talking to Kantipur Online over the phone. State Department officials decline to comment whether or not the supply of rifles will be delayed. However, it is evident that the Bush administration is under pressure from Senators and Congressmen—both Republicans and Democrats—to withhold any military assistance to Nepal before the King restores the multiparty system.
In February, immediately after the takeover, Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Democrats in the committee urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to withhold military assistance to Nepal to help reverse the King’s move.
Senators like Patrick Leahy of committee are taking seriously the issue of political detainees. “Clearly, the steps that need to be taken, such as the release of political detainees, the restoration of civil liberties,” the Financial Times report quoted Leahy’s aide Tim Rieser as saying
Reports here suggest that the Pentagon, the U.S. military establishment, is objecting to any proposal to shelf the shipment of the rifles. However, State Department officials are in favor of reviewing situation before taking any decision. The reason, says an official, is that the United States has two objectives in Nepal after February First: prevention of a Maoist victory and restoration of multiparty system. The RNA’s performance against the Maoists in recent days has made a certain segment in the Bush administration happy.
Military officials in the Pentagon have been happy with the recent successes of the Army. And they are insisting that the shipment of 4,000 M16 rifles was previously approved and that it has nothing to do with the “case-by case” review regime put in place after the royal takeover. The M16 rifles are a part of the 20,000 such rifles the United States agreed to provide Nepal. Nepal has already received 16,000 of them.
“We are looking hard at the previously approved supplies,” said Nancy Beck, a press officer at the State Department’s press office. “It remains undecided.” Officials say that they are closely monitoring the civil liberty situation in Nepal.
The recent arrests of scores of journalists, which were widely reported in the U.S. media, may have compounded the problem further. The news of possible delay in the shipment of the supplies comes at a time when the Army really needs arms and ammunition. Recently the Army published the notice in The Rising Nepal, the state-run newspaper, which obviously raised eyebrows in New Delhi. The government had invited global tender for procurement of arms and ammunitions for the Armed Police Force on May 29. Analyst says that the fear of a Maoist victory is forcing the Bush administration to do the balancing act.
Washington is trying to walk a fine line. It doesn’t want to be seen aiding and abetting the royal government. However, it also wants to boost the Army in its fight against the Maoist insurgents.