|
US quietly put off military training in Nepal |
 |
The US quietly put off a military training session for Nepal’s Army that was originally scheduled to take place last month.
Exercise Balanced Nail, a military training programme for Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) troops undertaken by the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) in coordination with the Office of Defence Cooperation in Washington since 2002, was to have been held in March. But it was put off silently without the alert Nepalese media getting a whiff of it.
Defence sources said Washington postponed the training following a tacit understanding with Britain and India that none of the trio would aid the RNA till King Gyanendra rolled back his royal coup.
On Feb 1, the monarch toppled the government of prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, assumed absolute powers and imposed a state of emergency with the suspension of civil rights. Political leaders were put under detention, communication links snapped and the media was gagged.
To show their concern at the royal takeover, India and Britain announced they were suspending aid to the RNA.
|
