Why Nepal Matters

Last summer, amid mounting criticism that President Bush’s decision to attend the Beijing Olympics would undermine the Dalai Lama’s lifelong quest to gain recognition for his people, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley appeared on "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos and argued that the President was deeply concerned about the people of Nepal. "What he's doing on Nepal is what we think the international community ought to be doing, which is approaching the Chinese privately through diplomatic channels and sending a very firm message of concern for human rights, a concern for what's happening in Nepal.”

There was one problem. China has occupied Tibet since 1950, not Nepal. Hopefully, his Holiness wasn’t watching.

Mr. Hadley is not alone. Much of the American foreign policy establishment is indifferent to Nepal. A search of Foreign Affairs’ archives yields but a single article dedicated to Nepal. No sitting U.S. president has ever visited the country.

Nepali politics are as byzantine as Kathmandu’s chaotic and congested streets. But this tiny mountainous nation deserves high-level critical attention from the Obama Administration for several compelling reasons.