Kathmandu: Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Prabhuram Sharma on Friday said that the Nepal Army in 2019 had informed the government that State Partnership Program (SPP) might be associated with the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS).
Speaking at a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, Nepal Army Chief Sharma said the national army had requested the government (Defence Ministry) to review its decision to join the program.
He said a letter with the intention of joining SPP was written to the American government to facilitate relief and rescue operations during the 2015 Earthquake.
[Related SPP debacle: Nepal Army’s request letter to the US becomes public]
Sharma added that the NA had written to the government after it was seen that the State Partnership Program will be part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
He added letter was written with the approval of the then Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. “It was written with the approval of the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister. It was not written only for the sake of writing”
KP Sharma Oli was the prime minister at the time while Ishwor Pokharel and Pradeep Gyawali were Defence Minister and Foreign Minister respectively.
[Related: Nepal can avoid SPP by informing the US : US Embassy]
Just a day after the Nepal Army claimed there has been no initiation on signing the State Partnership Program, a document signed by the then Army Chief seeking a military partnership with the United States was made public on Thursday.
Nepal Army, in 2015, had written to the United States Embassy in Kathmandu proposing the SPP with the American government.
[Related: Commentary | 75 years of partnership: Is Nepal-US going through a fresh test of trust again?]
The document, signed by the then Army Chief Rajendra Chhetri, has come out a day after the Nepal Army said, “there has been no understanding in entering into any military agreement with the US Army.”
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