Laos: Preparing for a Settlement in Vietnam

Abstract

In early 1968, the official news agency of the Pathet Lao insurgents reported on meetings being held in the areas under their control to celebrate the of the liberation forces in Laos and in neighboring Vietnam. Whether the Tet offensive, which was so costly to the Viet Cong, can be termed a victory is debatable, but there is no doubt that the Pathet Lao in 1968 had every reason to be pleased with their military position. In 1963, Prince Souphanouvong, titular head of the leftist faction in the tripartite government of national union, left the capital of Vientiane to resume the military struggle to liberate Laos. The country has been devastated in that renewed civil war, which has had international overtones because of Laos' strategic location in Southeast Asia, particularly its logistic importance to North Vietnam. Ever since World War II, the North Vietnamese Communists have sponsored and nurtured Laotian insurgency, furnishing guidance, training, material and weapons, and military manpower.1 The massive military presence of the North Vietnamese in Laos in recent years has had a dual function: to protect the Ho Chi Minh Trail access to South Vietnam and to provide the punch behind the Lao insurgents' challenge to the Royal Lao Government (RLG). In 1968, total North Vietnamese military strength in Laos was placed at about 40,000 men, augmenting the 30,000 indigenous Pathet Lao forces.2 To fight them, the RLG has put 70,000 men in the field, with substantial U.S. economic and military assistance.