Kuwait: Security, Reform, and U.S. Policy

Kuwait has been pivotal to U.S. efforts to secure the Persian Gulf region because of its location, its role as the object of past Iraqi aggression, and its close cooperation with the United States. With no U.S. combat troops in Iraq after 2011, Kuwait remains key to the U.S. ability to act militarily in the northern Persian Gulf region. Kuwait has helped post-Saddam Iraq reintegrate into the Arab world and Kuwait has aligning itself with U.S. efforts to contain Iranian power in the Gulf. Kuwait is procuring missile defense technology that furthers the U.S. goal of a GCC- wide missile defense network. Still, Kuwait maintains relatively normal economic and political relations with Iran so as not to provoke it to take military action or to provide material support to pro-Iranian elements inside Kuwait.