Kathmandu, Nepal, June 21, 2022: Withstanding the widespread concerns, the Nepal government has decided not to participate in the US government’s State Partnership Program (SPP). A Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided not only not to participate in the SPP but to inform the US government about the Nepal government’s decision not to participate in the SPP and make such correspondence only through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
With the decision, the hotly debated political as well as diplomatic issue over the alleged Nepal’s plan to participate in the SPP has come to end. Even though the Nepal and the US armies had not signed any agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the SPP, there was a widespread suspicion that it would be signed during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s scheduled visit to US. Prime Minister Deuba is scheduled to visit the US in mid-July. However, no official announcement has been made yet.
Responding to the controversies regarding the issue, the Home Minister Bal Krishna Khad had already made clear while speaking in the parliament on behalf of the Nepal government and Prime Minister Deuba that Nepal follows a policy of non-alignment and never become part of any military alliance. ‘I want to make it clear that Nepal is not involved in the SPP and has no intention to be part of it,’ Khand had said in the meeting.
The Nepal Army on October 27, 2015 had written a first letter to the US with a request for aid under the SPP. Second follow-up letter was also sent in 2017 for the same purpose. The CPN UML’s Chairman KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister at the time when both the letters were written to the US government seeking assistance under the SPP.
However, UML leaders had been coming vehemently against of the SPP even casting a suspicion that incumbent government would have been making plan to sign in the agreement to participate in the SPP. Interestingly, UML Chairman Oli was the Prime Minister at the time when the US had decided to accept Nepal’s request to participate in the SPP in 2019.
Addressing to then US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz, the first letter was sent in October 2015 in the sign of then Nepal army chief Rajendra Chhetri stating as ‘as authorized by the government of Nepal, it is our honor to formally request the establishment of the National Guard State Partnership Program for Nepal.’
‘It is firmly believed that this program can promote long-term, enduring and mutually beneficial security relationships to exchange military skills and experience, share defense knowledge, enhance partnership capacity and further mutual security cooperation,’ then Nepal army chief Chhetri had stated in the letter. The letter was leaked lately after leftist forces, particularly the UML leaders, protested the SPP.
Though the reference of the letter was given to the government offices including the office of the Prime Minister and Defense Ministry, then Prime Minister Oli and Defense Minister Ishowr Pokhrel had been claiming that they were not informed about the letter.
Responding to the hot debate and controversies in Nepal regarding the participation in SSP, the US embassy in Kathmandu last week had said that Nepal can stop its participation in the SPP if it wishes so. ‘A country can simply inform the United States that they no longer wish to participate in the programme,’ the Embassy had stated in the statement.
Even though the SPP is a bilateral program with peaceful intent, it is perceived to have deep-set military objectives with consequences not only for Nepal’s internal security, but also for relations with neighbors, particularly with China. The leaders of the ruling head Nepali Congress and other coalition partners had also been opposing the idea of joining in the SPP.
Some diplomats have a saying that Sino-Nepal relations will be catastrophic if the SPP was signed to make stronger US-Nepal military ties. However, it used to be said in defense of the SPP that it is an exchange program between an American State’s National Guard and a partner foreign country and the US National Guard domestically supports US first responders in dealing with natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and wildfires. The SPP has existed for over 25 years and includes partnerships with over 90 countries.
The SPP is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state Adjutants General in support of the Department of Defense policy goals. ‘Through SPP, the National Guard conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals but also leverages whole-of-society relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and corollary engagements spanning military, government, economic and social spheres,’ states the US government.
