Nepal - Military Doctrine

The Nepalese Army is an apolitical and non partisian institution dedicated to the well being of the Nepalese people through the safeguarding of the national sovereignty, protection of vital national interests and preservation of peace and stability. Nepal's position as a buffer state between two historically antagonistic powers dictated that a beleaguered government in Kathmandu probably would appeal for assistance from the nonbelligerent neighbor. During peacetime, the army's routine border defense duties included assisting the police in anti-smuggling operations and providing security in remote regions where there was no police presence.

Besides the traditional role of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal, the Nepalese Army has numerous non traditional roles too. The army is actively involved in nature conservation as part of the national strategy in the fight against environmental degradation. The army has undertaken many development projects in Nepal and has received accolades for the same. Nepalese Army has also been recognized as the primary responder in the management of both natural and man made disasters in Nepal.

The Nepalese Army is also at the forefront of Nepal's efforts to strengthen her role in international diplomacy through active participation in peace support operations under the mandate of the United Nations. This commitment of Nepal was put through acid tests when it was asked to deploy in very hostile environments of Darfur, Iraq and South Sudan. The Nepalese troops excelled in Darfur and are now also deployed in Iraq and South Sudan. It is the pride of every serving personnel to have been a part of this national endeavor to promote global peace. In the last three years, the Nepalese Army has initiated measures to ensure that all personnel get a fair chance to serve in so noble a cause.

The primary mission of the armed forces was defense of territorial integrity against external attack. Wedged between India and China, however, Nepal was clearly unable to mount anything more than a token conventional defense in the face of overwhelming odds. By necessity, governments in Kathmandu always had to rely on diplomacy and the restraint of neighbors, rather than Nepal's military strength, to ensure national survival.

In the event of conventional attack by either China or India, Nepalese military forces would mount a token defense to stall the enemy advance until international pressures could be mobilized to bring about a cease-fire and a return to the status quo. If international mediation failed, the military and police units that remained intact would withdraw from populated areas to lead a guerrilla war against occupation forces. Substantial numbers of Gurkha and Royal Nepal Army veterans also would be pressed into service, thereby multiplying the available military forces two or threefold.

Most of Nepal's population outside the Kathmandu Valley lived in hamlets that were either cut off from the rest of the country or else connected only to a local economy and communications infrastructure. Hence, the loss of some rural districts during a conventional conflict would not necessarily bring about the capitulation of the entire country. Semiautonomous guerrilla bands acting under the direction of retired or serving military officers could operate almost indefinitely and substantially raise the costs of an occupying force. However, loss of the valley, the political and cultural nerve center of the nation, could well mean the end of organized resistance. Partly for this reason, Nepal's national defenses were deployed primarily to defend the capital area in general and the national leadership in particular.

Geography also limited Nepal's capacity to mount a conventional defense. Although the Himalayas provided a nearly impenetrable shield against large-scale, rapid movement of troops from China, the harsh terrain also prevented Nepalese forces from erecting significant defenses along the 1,236-kilometer border. A paucity of roads, bridges, and airfields in the region would confine the Nepalese military response to provisioning scattered border outposts and positions near the mountainous tracks leading to some fifteen passes along the northern border. The only land corridor of any significance in a conflict with China would be the main road, built with Chinese assistance, that connected Kathmandu with Tibet. New Delhi has repeatedly expressed its fears that the road could serve as a Chinese invasion route, not a Nepalese resupply route.

Mounting a conventional defense against India posed an equally daunting challenge. India boasted significant ground force assets along its 1,700-kilometer border with Nepal; moreover, these formations were connected by extensive lines of communication to the Indian heartland, where reinforcements could be introduced into Nepal in short order. Nepal had virtually no combat air capability and its rudimentary air defense assets were no match for the Indian Air Force, second in size and capabilities only to China's among Asia's air forces.

Within Nepal, defense against a concerted Indian advance in the jungles and foothills of the Tarai was clearly impractical. Although the East-West Highway, or Mahendra Highway, connecting the extreme ends of the country was completed in the early 1990s, most of Nepal's approximately 4,500 kilometers of all-weather, motorable roads ran north-south, thereby complicating cross-country military movements. Avenues of approach leading north from India were considerably better developed than the generally primitive east-west lines of communication available to Nepalese forces.

The Nepal transportation system depends largely on the road network. This Strategic Road Network (SRN) links the main towns/cities, commercial centers, main international border crossings and the majority of the districts. The main road of Nepal is the Mahendra Highway, which runs through the Terai (plains) from the east to west borders, a distance of 1027 km.

The rail transport of Nepal is managed by the state-run Nepal Railways Corporation Ltd. The railway runs from Jaynagar, India to Bijalpura, Nepal. The total distance of this railway is 59 km and, while it has a limited number of cargo wagons, it mainly moves passengers over the short distance. A fifty-three-kilometer narrow-gauge track ran from the Indian border town of Jaynagar to Janakpur and Bijalpura in Nepal. It was destroyed to make way for a broad gauge line financed by India to counter Chinese influence in the region.