supported itself through opium cultivation and distribution. At first, American strategists considered Li's "irregulars" useful to their regional efforts to contain communism; but, within a few years, Washington began to think of them as a threat to that same objective, and put serious pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to remove them. In 1953, 7,000 troops, including Li Mi, were airlifted to Taiwan, but many more troops decided to remain behind. 7,000 troops remained entrenched around the Burma-Laos border, while several thousand more remained in Thailand. By the time that a second withdrawal was announced, in 1961, American credibility, US-Burmese relations, and the effort to contain communism in the region were in serious disarray. After achieving independence, the prime minister of Burma, U Nu, attempted to suppress Li's activities and ordered his forces to surrender, but Li refused. After the Burmese army attacked Li, he moved his troops to Mong Hsat. At the time, Burma was fighting four other insurgencies, including two communist guerrilla movements, and was not strong enough to seriously pursue Li's irregulars. The CIA programme to aid Li's troops in Burma was called "Operation Paper". Operation Paper involved the use of Thailand as a transit route, transporting weapons and supplies between Taiwan and Burma. Once arriving in Thailand, these supplies would then be transported via air by CAT (Civilian Air Transport), a CIA proprietary airline, under the command of General Chennault, working through two dummy corporations as diplomatic cover. The Thai prime minister at the time, Plaek Phibunsongkhram (also known as "Phibun"), agreed to aid Operation Paper, due to poor Thai-Burmese relations and the promise of American economic and military aid. Between 1949 and 1953 Li's men impressed thousands of local tribesmen into joining them, and were reinforced with several hundred former army officers and trainers from Formosa. Refugees from communist-held Yunnan also joined his army. Many married local women, and they systematically "took over" the local opium trade. With the help of the Thai military, Li's army traded their opium through Thailand, exchanging it for weapons and supplies delivered from Taiwan. They made serious attempts to take control of Yunnan during this period, but did not achieve long-term success. At one point there were 20,000 pro-KMT soldiers attempting to recover Yunnan. The operation liberated four counties before their logistical network broke down, and Mi's forces were not able to achieve their goal. There were several reasons for the