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US Diplomat Visits Kuwait to Boost Ties07/29 06:06
The top diplomat of the United States on Thursday began a visit to Kuwait,
where he held talks with high-ranking officials in the Gulf Arab sheikhdom that
has long been a staunch U.S. ally in a turbulent region.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The top diplomat of the United States on
Thursday began a visit to Kuwait, where he held talks with high-ranking
officials in the Gulf Arab sheikhdom that has long been a staunch U.S. ally in
a turbulent region.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed a group of American
diplomats, toured the country's Parliament and met at the royal palace with
Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the crown prince and
foreign minister. The State Department said Blinken would advance discussions
with tiny oil-rich Kuwait on military cooperation, regional security and
investment during his short visit.
Blinken arrived in Kuwait City late Wednesday from India, where he sought to
strengthen a regional front against Beijing's assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific
and boost cooperation in Afghanistan. American forces are completing their
withdrawal from war-scarred Afghanistan after a 20-year military campaign, a
drawdown that's rippling through the wider region.
The nation of Kuwait, home to 4.1 million people, is slightly smaller than
the U.S. state of New Jersey and sits on the world's sixth-largest known oil
reserves. It has been a critical U.S. partner since the 1991 Gulf War expelled
the occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein.
The country hosts some 13,500 American troops, most based at Camp Arifjan
south of Kuwait City, and the forward command of U.S. Army Central.
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