ABU DHABI — The United States has significantly reduced its military
presence in Kuwait despite heightened alerts of Al Qaida attacks.
Western diplomats said the U.S. troop level has been reduced by half
over the last 18 months. They said about 12,000 U.S. soldiers were now
stationed in Kuwait.
In 2003, the U.S. Army maintained 34,000 troops in Kuwait, Middle East Newsline reported. In 2004, the
number dropped to about 25,000, the diplomats said.
The departure of U.S. troops from Kuwait was accelerated after a series
of Al Qaida gun battles with Kuwait security forces in January 2005.
Diplomats said the Islamic insurgents sought to target U.S. bases and
convoys in the sheikdom.
"Today, there is a minimum U.S. military presence in Kuwait that is
close to the level of the pre-Iraq war [in March 2003]," a diplomat said.
[On Friday, suspected Islamic insurgents fired a rocket toward U.S.
warships in the Gulf of Aqaba off the coast of Israel and Jordan. A Katyusha
rocket was also fired toward the Israeli city of Eilat, which neighbors
Aqaba. Nobody was injured in Eilat.]
U.S. soldiers have been based mostly in Camp Arifjan, south of Kuwait
City.
On July 19, a U.S. soldier was found dead in the base in what the military
termed a noncombat-related incident.
The American military presence in Kuwait has focused on logistics and
supplies for combat troops in Iraq. Kuwait has also been the way-station for
troops moving to and from Iraq.
