KUWAIT CITY – Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Sunday visited Kuwait to extend the condolences of the US administration to the country's leaders after the death of its emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Esper expressed "sincere condolences" for the loss of Sheikh Sabah, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91, in a meeting with the new emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who also expressed concern over the health of US President Donald Trump.
Sheikh Nawaf said he was glad that Trump, who has been hospitalised after being diagnosed with Covid-19, was "recovering and well". Esper thanked him for his "expression of concern".
Kuwait and the United States are close allies, bound by a defence agreement that expires in 2022.
Their alliance was sealed with the Gulf War in 1991, during which a US-led international coalition expelled Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops from Kuwait after seven months of occupation.
Camp Arifjan, near the Saudi border, is a key base for US troops stationed in the country.
Before arriving in Kuwait on Sunday, Esper spent the night in Qatar, another US ally in the oil-rich Gulf, where he discussed "the importance of the strong defence partnership" between the two countries.
Esper thanked Qatar for hosting some 8,000 US military personnel at the Al-Udeid Air Base, the US's largest in the region.
The Pentagon chief had been on a North Africa tour aimed at beefing up the fight against jihadists in war-torn Libya and the Sahel, and on Friday signed a military cooperation deal with Morocco. – AFP, October 4, 2020
