Nepal's nine-year-old conflict between the state and Maoist rebels is Asia's deadliest: around 11,000 people have been killed, including 800 last December. The country has among the world's highest rates of unexplained disappearances.

To the outside world, the civil war seems as remote as Nepal itself, isolated high in the Himalayas between India and China. But this conflict is no local war. Washington sees the rebels as part of its war on terror. Neighbouring India, the US and the UK have armed and trained Nepal's army, which is controlled by Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, the king.