Neutralist Armed Forces

The Neutralist Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Neutralistes; FAN) were a Laotian rebel group and political movement active in the Laotian Civil War. It was founded in August 1960 in the wake of the August 1960 coup, led by mutinous Laotian National Army officers of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, that ovethrew the military government of Phoumi Nosavan.

The goals and aspirations of the rebel movement was to sought to establish Laos as a neutral state that would not align with the US nor the Soviet-bloc, as well as end the rampant corruption of the Royal Lao government.

Following their defeat in the Battle of Vientiane in defeat on 16 December 1960, the FAN retreated to the Plain of Jars and the following year was spent in conflict with Royalist guerrillas. During 1961, FAN grew to a strength of 8,000; it had a company of tanks and a small air arm. However, it was hampered by inadequate supplies erratically passed along by the Pathet Lao communists.

By the spring of 1963, the Neutralists began to suffer defections as its members were either defected to the Communist and Royalist side of the Laotian Civil War. As a result, Kong Le, the Neutralists leader, struck an alliance with the Royalists. In response, in April 1963, Colonel Deuane Sunnalath split off several battalions into a new party, the Patriotic Neutralists, which allied itself with the Pathet Lao. The April 1963 casualty list for FAN was 85 dead, 43 wounded. Given all the losses and defections, FAN was down to 2,200 men and 50 PT-76 light tanks by month's end.

In the subsequent years, FAN's battle performance would range from undistinguished to poor, in such battles as Lak Sao. From 1961 through 1966, it launched numerous unsuccessful attacks on the Phou Khout ridgeline positions of North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) troops overlooking FAN positions at Muang Soui. On one occasion, Kong Le assumed the robes of Buddhist monkhood while his subordinates led the assaults. Resentment grew among both his subordinates and his troops concerning his leadership, and they mutinied and forced Kong Le into exile on 16 October 1966. After his departure, the Neutralist rebels were subsumed into the Royal Lao Army and faded into inconsequentiality.