Nepal's main opposition party Thursday denounced the government's decision to allow the United States to use the country's airspace if the need arises to strike Afghanistan.
The Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML) said the government's stance went against Nepal's policy of non-alignment and not allowing its soil to be used by one country against another.
"If this principle is disturbed or waived on one pretext or another, it will only invite danger to this country with its complex geographical position," MP Jhalanath Khanal, foreign affairs chief for the NCP-UML, said in a statement.
He said the party nonetheless "stands behind the struggle against terrorism in all forms" and condemned the September 11 attacks on the United States that left close to 7,000 people dead.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's government has said US warplanes can use Nepal's skies or refuel in the Himalayan state if it takes action against Afghanistan, home to alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Meanwhile, members of the far-left United People's Front held a march Thursday, chanting anti-US slogans and demanding that Deuba renounce his decision -- KATHMANDU (AFP)
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