Washington's wider objective was to encircle Beijing with "friendly, puppet governments," Kit Klarenburg has told RT

Nepal's geographical proximity to India and China was the key factor that prompted the US to back a coup there, the journalist who exposed Washington's involvement has told RT.

K.P. Sharma Oli resigned as Nepal's prime minister in September after violent clashes - known as the Gen Z protests - killed 77 and injured more than 2,000.

"It's situated slap bang between India and China," Grayzone journalist Kit Klarenberg, who recently exposed documents that revealed a US regime change agency's backing of the coup, said in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

"China is the number one enemy [of the US]," Klarenberg said, citing reasons for the US government's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) spending hundreds of thousands of dollars tutoring Nepalese youth to stage the protests.

"There is a wider objective to encircle China militarily with friendly puppet governments," he added.

India has shifted away from the US and is pursuing an independent path, "both in its domestic and foreign policy, which the US is not very happy about," Klarenburg said. "So, creating an irritant and installing a friendly government in Nepal serves a large number of geopolitical purposes."

The protests caused more than $586 million in losses to Nepal's $42 billion economy, a statement from the office of interim Nepalese Prime Minister Sushila Karki said last week.

The NED is officially a US State Department-funded nonprofit that provides grants to support 'democratic initiatives' worldwide.

It has faced allegations of covertly influencing political outcomes, with critics arguing that it has taken over covert functions previously handled by the CIA, particularly those aimed at overthrowing foreign governments.

The International Republican Institute (IRI), a NED division, has been accused of funding clandestine activities in Bangladesh as well.