Kathmandu, 16 June: The State Partnership Program (SPP), another agreement on military cooperation with the United States, has once again heated up political circles. Initially, most of the parties are in opposition to the SPP, as in the case of the MCC.
However, the role played by the parties in the government to advance the SPP agreement and the political leadership that is indifferent to the interests of the nation and has a double standard has raised fears that Nepal will sign the agreement.
The US side has started claiming that Nepal had initially put forward the proposal to sign the SPP agreement which seems to be against Nepal’s foreign policy.
The US claims that the then Chief of Army Staff Rajendra Chhetri requested the US for a SPP agreement to co-operate in humanitarian aid and disaster response after the Gorkha earthquake in 2015. At that time, there was a coalition government with UML led by the then Congress president Sushil Koirala. Although no formal memorandum of understanding has been signed, the United States has included Nepal as a member of the SPP since 2019 at Nepal’s request.
The then Prime Minister Koirala and the chairman of the ruling UML, KP Oli, had separate talks with US officials about moving the SPP forward. Both Koirala and Oli had ‘reassured US official’ that it would be taken forward with consensus amongst the political parties but there was no further initiative to forge a common consensus.
If Nepal signs the SPP agreement, the way will be open for US troops to stay in Nepal in the name of disaster management and humanitarian aid.
Leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (United Socialist) and the main opposition CPN-UML have been unanimously demanding the rejection of the SPP agreement. If the SPP agreement is signed, Nepal plunge into geopolitical conflict.
Observers say that the United States is confident that the SPP agreement will be signed under the leadership of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who won the confidence of the United States by ratifying the MCC despite strong opposition in the country.
Login to add a comment