After the central government successfully pushed back the KNU after the Battle of Insein, Naw Seng and the First Kachin Rifles headed into northern Shan State to attempt to capture Lashio.

Over the next two months, the Pawng Yawng rebellion captured Lashio and Namhkam, Shan State but failed to muster support amongst the Kachin populace.

Eventually in April 1950, Naw Seng and his troops fled into China following talks with Kachin leaders who remained in support of the central government.

Aside from its major towns and railway corridor, KIA-controlled areas in Kachin State remained virtually independent and isolated from the rest of Myanmar from the mid-1960s through 1994, with an economy based on cross-border jade trade with China and narcotics trafficking.

[26] On 3 January 2013, the KIA alleged that air-strikes had continued to occur for the sixth consecutive day in the area around Laiza and there were allegations that the Myanmar Armed Forces was also using chemical weapons[27] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated following the incidents that Burma's authorities should "desist from any action that could endanger the lives of civilians living in the area or further intensify conflict in the region".

[28] On 14 June 2014, KIA insurgents captured two hydroelectric plants and took six government soldiers and several Chinese workers hostage for several hours, before the Myanmar Army stormed the buildings.

According to an 18 December 2012 report by Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner in the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online, many people have criticised the foreign backed ceasefire efforts for "avoiding discussions of political issues and only emphasizing ceasefires, disarmament and economic development, those interlocutors—including a 'Peace Support Initiative' sponsored by the Norwegian government and in a separate initiative the Switzerland-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue—are essentially promoting the government's view".

[30] On 18 January 2013, immediately prior to an international donors conference in Myanmar, President Thein Sein announced a unilateral ceasefire in the war between the army and the KIO.

[33] The government of Thein Sein was reported to be under pressure from "political and business circles" who believed the "escalating conflict would undermine Myanmar's emergence from decades of diplomatic isolation" and had passed a resolution in parliament calling on Min Aung Hlaing, the military's commander-in-chief, to scale down the war.

[41][42] On 30 May, Burmese government and Kachin Independence Army signed a preliminary ceasefire agreement that would lead to further progress towards reaching a peace deal.

United Nations special adviser on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, also joined the meeting as an observer, along with representatives of China and other ethnic minorities.

[57] By May 2018, 6,000 IDPs had fled armed clashes and shelling by the Myanmar Army, whilst hundreds more remained trapped in villages caught between the crossfire.

[61] On 7 May, KIA spokesman claimed the military has suffered casualties after regime fighter jets mistakenly dropped bombs at their own troops in Momauk Township.

[63] On 22 May, the KIA attacked military positions, and jade mining sites owned by the Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) in Namtsit Bum in Hkamti Township.

[65] On 30 May, the KIA joined the anti-coup People's Defence Force (PDF) battling junta troops in Katha Township, killing eight regime soldiers.

According to Human Rights Watch, refugees were being forced by the Chinese government back into Myanmar in August 2012 despite the continued fighting there and the illegality of forcibly returning civilians to war zones under international law.

[69] In February 2013 the NGO Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) reported that the fighting had created over 100,000 refugees and that 364 villages had been wholly or partially abandoned since 2011.

[70] The organisation's report also stated that the Burmese Army deliberately attacked refugee camps and villages as well as committed alleged "war crimes" such as the rape and murder of civilians.

[75] A Bangkok Post article on 23 December 2012, reported that the Myanmar Armed Forces continued to use child soldiers including during the army's large offensive against the KIA.