The CIA World Factbook Every edition, 2021 to 2025 Southeast Asia

Military - note Cambodia, in 5 editions.

The entry for Cambodia published Military - note in 5 editions of 36, from 2021 to 2025. The text changed in 4 editions. Each is shown as published. Military - note in every entry.

editions changed the text
4
the first edition with it
2021
the latest edition with it
2025

Published as “Military - note” (2021 to 2025).

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe edition shownChoose an edition on the strip beside the text, or step through them with the arrows. Mark changes compares it with the edition before: the marks are ours, words added and words removed.

2025 edition

Changed since 2024

Open the 2025 entry

  • the primary responsibilities of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) are border, coastal, and internal security;
  • key security partners include China and Vietnam;
  • in July 2025, following months of rising tensions, the RCAF and the military forces of Thailand clashed in multiple locations along their disputed border;
  • both sides blamed the other for provoking the five-day conflict, which included cross-border artillery shelling by both sides and air attacks by RTARF fighter aircraft and drones
  • the RCAF was re-established in 1993 under the first coalition government from the merger of the Cambodian Government’s military forces (Cambodian People’s Armed Forces) and the two non-communist resistance forces (Sihanoukist National Army, aka National Army for Khmer Independence, and the Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces);
  • thousands of communist Khmer Rouge fighters began surrendering by 1994 under a government amnesty program and the last of the Khmer Rouge forces (National Army of Democratic Kampuchea) were demobilized or absorbed into the RCAF in 1999 (2025)

the RCAF’s primary responsibilities of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) are border, coastal, and internal security; since 2016, key security partners include China and Vietnam; in July 2025, following months of rising tensions, the RCAF has regularly conducted a small annual training exercise known as “Golden Dragon” with and the military forces of China, its closest security partner Thailand clashed in multiple locations along their disputed border; both sides blamed the other for provoking the five-day conflict, which included cross-border artillery shelling by both sides and air attacks by RTARF fighter aircraft and drones
the RCAF was re-established in 1993 under the first coalition government from the merger of the Cambodian Government’s military forces (Cambodian People’s Armed Forces) and the two non-communist resistance forces (Sihanoukist National Army, aka National Army for Khmer Independence, and the Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces); thousands of communist Khmer Rouge fighters began surrendering by 1994 under a government amnesty program and the last of the Khmer Rouge forces (National Army of Democratic Kampuchea) were demobilized or absorbed into the RCAF in 1999
Cambodia continues to be one of the most densely landmine-contaminated countries in the world; by the early 1990s, various aid organizations estimated there were 8-10 million landmines scattered throughout the country, with a particularly heavy concentration on a 1,000-km (620-mile) strip along the northwest Thai-Cambodia border known as the "K5 belt"; the mines were laid during Cambodia’s decades-long war by the Cambodian army, the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge, the non-communist fighters, and US forces; part of Cambodia's defense policy is demining the territory with the intent of having the entire country cleared of unexploded ordnances by 2035; over 1 million landmines and over 3 million explosives were discovered and removed from 1992 to 2018; in 2018, the Cambodian government and Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), a government agency, launched the National Mine Action Strategy for 2018-2025 (2024)
(2025)

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Central Intelligence Agency. “Cambodia: Military - note.” The World Factbook, 2021–2025 editions. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/cambodia/military-note.

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