"The Nepalese army used to be ill equipped with outdated weapons from 100 years ago."
More antiquated than that. The King held a garage/armory sale a few years back. American militaria collectors are still going nuts.
As to intelligence, and education, I agree. A lesson we learned, and relearned, in Vietnam. However, having a viable
military response helps greatly. Small combat victories tend to empower the "bad guys" even more, defeats cut down recruiting.