![]() ![]() Before the war there were approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Hmong living in the Laotian highlands, but about 100,000 of them were killed in the fighting. Hmong Losses Hmong forces suffered tremendous losses in their fight against the communists. government supplied Vang Pao's Royal Laos Army with training, weapons, food and ammunition and asked them to wage a guerrilla war against the Pathet Lao as well as any Vietnamese communists operating in Laos. The Hmong military leader was a man named Vang Pao, also known as "The General." The U.S. The General When the CIA decided to recruit the Hmong for their secret war, the agency sent a few agents into the Laotian highlands to train and organize the Hmong guerrilla forces. Because Laos was officially a neutral country, the CIA's proxy war was kept secret. When the communist Pathet Lao movement joined the Laotian government, the CIA decided to recruit the Hmong as guerrilla fighters to keep the Pathet Lao from helping their communist allies in the neighboring country of Vietnam. ![]() The Hmong people valued their independence highly and feared that the communists would not respect their autonomy. ![]() In the earlier war between the French colonial rulers of Indochina and the communist rebels, the Hmong had fought on the side of the French. The Secret War The Hmong's struggle with the communists didn't begin with the CIA. The resulting conflict far outlasted the Vietnam War. When a communist movement called the Pathet Lao began to gain power in Laos during the Vietnam War, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited the Hmong to fight the communists and attack North Vietnamese supply lines. Brief History of the Secret War The Hmong are an ethnic group from the highlands of Laos. ![]()
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