“Blowtorch Bob” Komer is well known for his work – and writing about – internal security and pacification in South Vietnam in the mid/late-1960s (his book Bureaucracy Does Its Thing is a classic). But he was on the NSC doing other stuff in the early 1960s, including providing background on India-Nepal relations here in 1962 (from the JFK presidential papers). The context is that King Mahendra took power from an elected government, whose party the Indians were then supporting as exiles, about which Mahendra was angry. After the India-China war later in 1962, the Indians shut down active raids across the border, but this was just prior when tensions were high.
Here is his standardly-caustic take on the situation: Mahendra is “another little King whose tough-mindedness exceeds his common sense” who is “playing footsie with the Chinese” while “our people. . . think Indian policy pretty footless and have counseled moderation, but you know Indians.” Easy to see how he got his nickname.
Paul Staniland 