Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigns amid deadly anti-government protests, a U.S. firm strikes a deal with Pakistan on critical minerals exploration, and India-U.S. ties hit another roadblock.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigns amid deadly anti-government protests, a U.S. firm strikes a deal with Pakistan on critical minerals exploration, and India-U.S. ties hit another roadblock.

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Nepal’s prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, resigned on Tuesday after 19 people were killed and hundreds more injured a day earlier during mass anti-government protests. In Kathmandu, the capital, demonstrators tried to breach the parliament building. Police initially responded with water cannons and tear gas but then opened fire against protesters.

The situation in Nepal remains unstable: Protesters have set fire to the parliament building along with the homes of politicians, including that of Oli. The country’s military announced on Tuesday night local time that it would deploy troops on the streets.

Monday marked the deadliest single day of political protests in Nepal since the 2006 democracy movement. Those demonstrations ultimately led to the abolition of the monarchy and Nepal’s transformation into a democratic republic in 2008.

The trigger for the current protests was Nepal’s decision last week to shut down social media platforms that had failed to abide by government registration requirements, including Facebook, X, and YouTube. A social media advocacy campaign launched last week—branded the “nepo kid” movement—took aim at the privileged children of political elites and had called for protests on Monday.

But as that campaign suggests, the demonstrations are about more than social media. For years, Nepali citizens have railed against the state of their country’s politics, decrying the system as corrupt and unable to address long-standing public concerns—especially economic stress. Nepal’s merry-go-round of coalition politics has resulted in 14 different governments since 2008.

This deep public mistrust emerged during large protests earlier this year that called for the restoration of the monarchy. Rather than genuine support for monarchical rule, these protests seemed to indicate just how angry people were at a supposedly democratic system that, in their view,........

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