Pickering in Kuwait: forces will stay due to Iraqi threats

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah met yesterday with the US undersecretary for political affairs, Thomas Pickering. The US official also met with Kuwait's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdul and his first deputy, Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed.

The officials discussed guaranteeing the Gulf area's security and Iraq's implementation of UN resolutions within the US reduction of its military forces in the Gulf.

Pickering announced on Wednesday in Kuwait that the US has decided to perpetuate its durable presence in Kuwait, even if it has to withdraw its reinforcements it has recently dispatched to the region during the recent crisis with Iraq. He said that US President Bill Clinton has decided to keep a high level of US troops high in the region due to the "Iraqi threats."