# Why doesn't the US have foreign relations with Bhutan?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755 "2003-01-10T15:49:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755/1 "2003-01-10T15:49:38Z")

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I was reading the “Ask Yahoo!” column from [Jan 7](http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20030107.html) where they state:

> [@](#):
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> Of the 191 foreign countries in the world, only 5 – Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea – do not have relations with the United States.

Now, I know why we don’t have relations with Cuba, Iran, Iraq and North Korea. However, I’m puzzled as to why we don’t have relations with Bhutan.

Anyone have any ideas?

Zev Steinhardt

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755/2 "2003-01-10T15:58:49Z")

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Bhutan enjoys internal independence, but India is largely responsible for its foreign relations.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755/3 "2003-01-10T16:00:27Z")

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I think India handles most of Bhutan’s foreign affairs (after the Brits left they gave a lot of administrative functions of Bhutan to India). my WAG would be Bhutan’s relations with the US would go through them.

There’s also this, according to [Bhutan’s CIA Factbook entry](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bt.html):

> [@](#):
>
> **International Disputes**  
> approximately 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal, 90% of whom reside in seven UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees camps, place decades-long strains on Nepal

Perhaps that has something to do with it?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-have-foreign-relations-with-bhutan/147755/4 "2003-01-10T19:12:23Z")

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The last US State Department “Background Notes” for Bhutan was published in 1990. Under “Foreign Relations”, only a few nations had any diplomatic ties with Bhutan and only India and Bangladesh had representatives in Bhutan.

And Bhutan’s only embassy was in India.

I think it’s more a factor of logistics than anything else.