By Kit Klarenberg – Dec 10, 2025
Leaked files reviewed by The Grayzone show the US gov’t covertly funded Nepalese youth groups in the run-up to a violent coup. The “Gen Z” shadow army mobilized as the US sought to neutralize Chinese and Indian influence over Kathmandu – now controlled by a leader chosen by an informal social media poll.
The US government’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars tutoring dozens of Nepalese youth on “strategies and skills in organizing protests and demonstrations” prior to a violent coup which overthrew the government of Nepal in September 2025, leaked documents show.
The documents reveal a clandestine campaign organized by an NED division known as the International Republican Institute (IRI) that sought to cultivate a Nepalese “network” of young political activists explicitly designed to “become an important force to support US interests.” The leaked documents note that the IRI’s program “connects vibrant youth… and political leaders” and “provides comprehensive trainings on how to launch advocacy campaigns and protests.”
The demonstrations organized under the NED’s umbrella would relate to “issues selected” by the Institute and its local collaborators, thereby “ensuring the U.S. concerns with Nepal’s democracy [would] be resolved,” an IRI report stated. As The Grayzone reported, a similar effort by the IRI in Bangladesh helped generate a coup in August 2024.
Nepal was rocked by so-called “Gen Z” protests in September 2025 after authorities blocked access to social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter/X, citing the companies’ failure to abide by local regulations requiring them to register with the government. At least 76 people were killed during the resulting violence, including multiple police officers, leading to the resignation of communist Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli less than a week after the violence began.
Days later, he was replaced by an interim leader chosen in an anonymous poll which registered fewer than 10,000 votes from Discord accounts.
Though the unrest was widely characterized in Western media as a peaceful and democratic uprising against an authoritarian government, video of the mayhem showed protesters armed with semi-automatic rifles rampaging throughout cities. The Jolly Roger flag from the popular anime series One Piece featured prominently – just as it did during recent anti-government “Gen Z” rebellions in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. Due in part to their proximity to China or the US, each of those countries is also considered a crucial chess piece in the game of international politics.
Nepal held particular importance for the IRI, the leaks show. The Institute gushed over Nepal’s “strategic geographic location” between China and India, which they said “makes the country core” to Washington’s “Indo-Pacific” ambitions — namely, encircling Beijing with pliable governments and US military installations. IRI initiatives to educate Kathmandu’s youth to “use their power for policy intervention” and to influence “national decision-making” were forecast to have an impact “beyond the life” of the underlying projects. Alumni would not only be primed to cause street-level havoc, but create political parties and run for office.
The leaked files show the IRI drew inspiration from the so-called “Enough is Enough” protests which unfolded in Nepal in the summer of 2020 in response to the government’s COVID policies. For the Institute, those demonstrations proved the ability of young people “to shape and play a significant role in Nepali politics,” and extract concessions from the government – a “success” which the NED subsidiary was keen to “sustain” and “capitalize on.” The Institute therefore decided to begin providing the country’s youth with “opportunities and platforms to develop extensive, sustainable networks to effectively advocate for common concerns and be successful champions for democratic change supported by the US.”
Since its creation in 1983, the NED has secretly bankrolled similar initiatives across the globe in an effort to topple sovereign governments, with one of its founders openly boasting that “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” The documents strongly suggest that the chaos that played out in Kathmandu in September may have represented the culmination of Washington’s efforts to cultivate a political leadership in Nepal conducive to its “Indo-Pacific strategy.” As the region grows increasingly interconnected amid India’s recent tilt further towards China and Russia, the US national security state would undoubtedly welcome the installation of a more pliable government in the geopolitically vital country of Nepal.
Young activists promote ‘reform advocated by the US’
Among the most crucial IRI projects in Nepal was a program called “Yuva Netritwa: Paradarshi Niti” (Youth Leadership: Transparent Policy), which ran at an initial cost of $350,000 from July 2021 to June 2022. The IRI project sought to provide “emerging leaders [with] increased opportunities to build momentum for youth activism and put pressure on Nepali political decision-makers,” the documents show. The program was predicted to “benefit” between 60 – 70 young Nepalis.
“Networks of youth activists and political leaders” would be cultivated in Nepal, provided with “skills, resources, and platforms to build connections” and communicate their grievances publicly, then trained to “advocate concerns on political turmoil, government corruption and national policymaking,” the files state. Washington’s concerns would be addressed by “advocacy campaigns and protests, urging the government of Nepal to pay more attention to their concerns and promoting democratic reform advocated by the US.”
Once a sufficient number of Nepalese “youth leaders” who “endorse and advocate” US “values” were groomed, they could then be mobilized “to launch advocacy campaigns on Nepali issues of US concern.” To bolster its project, IRI pledged to deploy an Emerging Leaders Academy (ELA), which it described as “an IRI program that seeks to bring together young civic activists and political leaders… and provide them with the skills, platforms, and resources needed to initiate positive change in their communities.”
The Institute boasted that its other ELA programs “elsewhere in Asia,” such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia, had “seen success” in preparing its hand-selected youth activists “to assume leadership positions within their communities and parties.”
IRI undertook to “specifically solicit applications” to its Nepalese ELA “from young participants in a range of different sectors – including political parties, civil society and the media.” These “youth leaders” would be provided with “the skills and knowledge to ensure that future advocacy efforts and protests are effective and sustainable enough to encourage more people to engage” in US-approved political action, the report states.
Once they’d returned to their everyday lives, the Institute would “encourage and support participants to strive for higher positions in [their] respective political parties.”
IRI expressed confidence that it would create a Nepalese “youth network” that “has a say in national decision-making.” The Institute’s hand-picked young troublemakers would learn “methods… to effectively broadcast messages of advocacy campaigns and protests,” the report’s authors wrote, specifically highlighting “social media and other web-based tools” as ideal ways to get the word out. In the end, “the remarkable results of the advocacy campaigns and protests will be known by more and more young people and arouse their interest in participation,” IRI predicted.
In August 2021, when seeking $500,000 for a local “youth civic education project,” the IRI cited internal research indicating 90% of young Nepalese were “disengaged with politics.” Because youth comprised 40% of the country’s population, it was therefore seen as critical to train future civic and political leaders who “support the development of a sustainable strong federalist nation that is vital to the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy.” IRI boasted of being “uniquely prepared to leverage its civil society and political contacts” to support this objective. It is unknown whether those funds were ultimately disbursed.
Nepal’s Color Revolution: US Funding Under Scrutiny Amid Country’s Political Upheaval
US regime change outfit tutors Nepalese youth in “organizing protests”
Another leaked file outlines how IRI developed “training manuals for Youth Empowerment Workshops,” to further the objectives of both Yuva Netritwa: Paradarshee Neeti and NED’s local ELA chapter. These events were intended to attract Young Nepalis from across the country who were “both politically affiliated and unaffiliated, to strengthen their capacity to make positive change… and develop their leadership qualities.” The sessions were meant to help participants brush up on their “public speaking, strategic messaging, resource mobilization, advocacy campaign and protest management and effective governance,” the document explains.
Workshop attendees were taught how youth activists had achieved “socio-economic and political changes” across the globe, and given tips on how to recreate those movements on a local level. Simultaneously, they were individually evaluated for “leadership potential,” and given tutorials focused on “inspiring and motivating the participants to be rational, good and effective leaders to lead change.” They were also encouraged to “exercise leadership,” with lessons on “how young leaders can drive political change through protest.”
The final module focused on “enhancing the knowledge and skills of the participants,” in order to help them seek “accountability” from “public office bearers.” This was to be achieved by training attendees “in the use of modern technology for collecting data, tracking community concerns, and articulating the concerns” through online campaigning, “leveraging digital tools identified by the technical experts in IRI’s Digital Democracy practice.”
IRI’s covert curriculum also included lessons on “strategies and skills in organizing protests and demonstrations” in order to influence “local, provincial, and national” politics. Meanwhile, the Institute enlisted the services of a Kathmandu-based firm, Solutions Consultant, to conduct extensive focus grouping from February to April 2022, seeking “to identify and evaluate the barriers Nepali youth face while engaging in the political process.”
Solutions Consultant was to conduct seven focus group discussions, and “recruit 8 – 10 participants for each in person group or 5 – 7 participants for each online group as well as 2 – 3 alternates in case any of the original participants are unable to participate.” The cost of this exercise was $9,135, a negligible fraction of the $350,000 annually IRI invested in its Nepalese “youth empowerment” operations. This suggests a sizable number of locals were surveyed, though exactly how many were radicalized in total is not clear.
IRI staffers sought “to observe the focus group discussions in person or remotely,” and demanded “high quality” recordings of the meetings “with clear sound,” along with “full verbatim transcripts in English” from Solutions Consultant. The company would also ensure “each participant speaker” could be identified “by number or first name,” to connect their comments with their “exact age, education level, city and occupation.” Attendees were “between the ages of 18 and 35, with each session roughly gender balanced.”
“The youth will be political leaders and activists, including but not limited to youth wings of political parties, politically unaffiliated activists and civil society representatives, as well as youth who are not civically active,” IRI declared. The Institute also sought “key informant interviews” with “civil society activists and politicians” to explore the question. Solutions Consultant was charged with contacting “potential interviewees” provided by IRI, “with the goal of recruiting them for an interview and/or to obtain recommendations for potential additional or alternate interviewees.”
Coup clears path for monarchy’s return
IRI explicitly instructed moderators of focus group discussions that they “should emphasize that it is important that the participants speak freely and openly,” and that participants must “understand that their comments, both positive and negative, will make a contribution to understanding and addressing the barriers preventing the full participation of youth in politics.” The IRI described its “guide” as designed to “familiarize the moderator with the questions and issues that we would like to see addressed.”
As long as moderators focused on the IRI’s handpicked topics, they were “free to combine questions, change questions, omit questions that do not seem to be working and add questions in response to interesting trends as they become apparent.”
Entitled “Qualitative Study on Political Participation of Youths in Nepal,” the end product offered extensive insight into perceived barriers to political engagement locally. In a twist of irony, several interviewees expressed frustration that young citizens were “often used and discarded” by established political parties, which sought only to advance their own agendas. An unnamed 24-year-old male noted that Kathmandu’s Congress Party exploited “youth during demonstrations” when convenient, only to later ignore them and their concerns. They hinted these party-sponsored protesters were incentivized to employ violent tactics.
“The government creates policies and the youth demonstrate in rejection,” the attendee added. Elsewhere, an anonymous informant from the opposition Bibeksheel Sajha Party was quoted as saying that “capable youth are kept out of meaningful politics and are only used to bolster the demonstrations and riots” orchestrated against Nepal’s government of the day by “traditional parties”. Youth activists were “used to fight on the streets and safeguard the positions of the leaders, but they have no say in how to develop their nation,” the informant lamented.
This dynamic, in which young activists wreaked havoc on Nepalese politics through demonstrations sparked by opposition to government policy, was clearly demonstrated just a few years later, when “Gen Z” protests ousted Kathmandu’s elected government. The mayhem was sparked by precisely the concerns which IRI sought to exploit, raising questions about whether it was inspired by a US government meddling campaign.
As the New York Times admitted in a September 15th editorial, while “Nepalis from all walks of life were ready to reject the system they had fought for decades to achieve,” they lacked “any clear sense of what comes next.” This vacuum has triggered a resurgence of forces seeking to restore Nepal’s monarchy, which was finally driven from power in 2008 after decades of political resistance by republican forces.
As The Times noted, arsonists targeted “almost every organ of state power,” including parliament, party offices, and the homes of government ministers. Military institutions, however, were left untouched, as was the palace of Nepal’s former king, Gyanendra Shah, who issued a statement in support of the “Gen Z” insurgents. Since then, the army has actively sought to empower pro-monarchist figures by including them in discussions about Kathmandu’s future government with protest leaders.
If IRI training contributed to the September coup, the US will have cleared a path for the installation of a leader who will advance its imperial interests, but from behind an internet-inspired, anarchic aesthetic of youthful defiance.
Kit Klarenberg
Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions.
