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Kathmandu Monday January 21, 2002 Magh 08, 2058.
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Powell underscored support,
but also voiced US fears
By Damakant Jayshi
KATHMANDU, Jan 20: US Secretary of State Colin
Powell’s 19-hour whirlwind visit to Nepal is being hailed as a feather in the cap of
the government. In a sense it is, since officials did manage to fix the Powell visit
unlike the fiasco in 2000 when they failed to convince then US President Bill Clinton to
come to Nepal during his South Asian tour.
But so much has changed since then –
America has witnessed September 11, India went through December 13 and Nepal too has had
its November 26 when emergency rule was declared. Under these circumstances, Secretary
Powell’s visit to South Asia is not that surprising, given the stakes involved.
What is also unsurprising is why he came to
Nepal. Yes, on the surface, the US Secretary of State made it a point to visit Nepal to
show his country’s solidarity with the fight against Maoist rebels, and also to
acknowledge Nepal’s support for US action in the post-September 11 world. But, if one
were to carefully pore over the words of Powell, there is more to it.
America has now learnt that failed states pose
the greatest danger to its security. Thus its actions in Afghanistan to drive out the
Taliban. Powell’s visit here in fact was merely a stop on the way to Japan where the
US and other countries are holding talks on aid to Afghanistan so that the poor country no
longer remains a failed state.
Could Secretary Powell’s visit to Nepal,
then, be an indication of US concerns that Nepal too might turn into a failed state if
urgent corrections are not made, and soon? Given the experience of Afghanistan, current
American thinking is that, a failed state provides ripe conditions for terrorism to take
root.
In the light of Maoist violence, the US has very
high stakes in Nepal where it wants to strengthen democracy, said Prof. Sridhar Khatri of
Tribhuvan University, talking to The Kathmandu Post. The professor, a foreign policy
analyst, also added that the US would not wash its hands off a failed state now, something
that it did about Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal in the 80s. "The US has
learnt its lesson and its interest in a small country like Nepal would not wane as it is
aware that terrorism can weaken the roots of democracy."
Indeed, Powell said exactly that here. While in
Kathmandu over the weekend, he reminded Nepali officials that good government will make
the Maoists seem less attractive to young Nepalis. As Powell put it, effective government
policies "dry up the swamp that produces terrorism."
Terrorism , and the conditions that breed it,
was therefore clearly on Powell’s mind when he visited Nepal over the weekend. In
this backdrop, it was not surprising that the Secretary of State launched a scathing
attack on the Maoists and denounced their violence without mincing words, much to the
delight of Sher Bahadur Deuba government. Warming the hearts of the army top brass, he
also promised to look into the needs of the Royal Nepal Army, now fighting a battle
against the Maoist guerrillas in the far-flung districts of the Himalayan Kingdom.
But more than the military hardware, the more
important thing now is to capitalise on the sole superpower’s intense attention on
the region. Right during the Cold War days, Nepal has been of strategic importance to the
US. Although Afghanistan is still hogging the limelight, Nepal’s strategic location
and the potential for trouble here cannot be lost on the US.
Prof. Khatri said, "US strategic interests
in Nepal during the Cold War and now are entirely two different things. However, the US
attitude has gone a sea change after September 11 (terrorists strikes) and has now been
addressing terrorism as a global issue."
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