Myanmar's reforms may be running out of steam

US President Barack Obama recently singled out Myanmar as a foreign policy victory - a country that had emerged from decades of military rule and turned toward the West, thanks in part to American diplomacy.

If Myanmar succeeds, the president told West Point cadets in May, "We will have gained a new partner without having fired a shot". But two years after Obama made a historic visit to the Southeast Asian nation, the achievement is in jeopardy.

Myanmar's government has cracked down on the media. The parliament is considering laws that could restrict religious freedom. And revered opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who welcomed Obama to her home in 2012, remains constitutionally barred from running for president as the country heads into a pivotal election next year.

The situation is most dire in Myanmar's western reaches, where more than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims are living as virtual prisoners, with little access to health care or food.

The fast-deteriorating conditions prompted Tomas Ojea Quintana, a former UN special rapporteur for human rights, to say in April that there is an "element of genocide" in the Rohingyas' plight.

The setbacks have raised the stakes for Obama's scheduled November visit to a regional conference in Myanmar, during which the administration had hoped to showcase the country's progress as part of its strategic "rebalance" towards Asia. Now, even some of Obama's allies on Capitol Hill have begun to question whether the administration has moved too quickly to embrace Myanmar's leadership.

"We have a moral obligation despite the political benefits" of improving ties, said congressman Joseph Crowley, who has introduced a bill to link additional US aid to human rights reforms.