The United States and Kuwait held the 14th U.S.-Kuwait Joint Military Commission (JMC) at the Pentagon on May 10-12, 2022. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East, Dana Stroul led the U.S. delegation and the Kuwait Chief of the General Staff, Staff Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Khaled Saleh Al Sabah led the Kuwait delegation.
The engagement reinforced the strength of the U.S.-Kuwait bilateral defense partnership, as the preeminent bilateral defense forum for senior U.S. and Kuwaiti defense officials to discuss advancing the defense partnership, as well as security assistance and military cooperation.
DASD Stroul and Lt Gen Al Sabah reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Kuwait strategic partnership. The delegations exchanged views on regional security challenges, including border security threats and Iran's destabilizing activities throughout the region. Kuwaiti and U.S. participants also discussed the truce in Yemen, need to maintain counterterrorism pressure on ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the Iran-proliferated network of attack unmanned aerial systems, and strengthening integrated air and missile defense.
The delegations also discussed DoD's global defense priorities and the United States briefed on its approach to China as the pacing challenge.
The U.S. delegation expressed gratitude for Kuwait's continued support for hosting U.S. forces and for its essential contributions to last year's U.S. evacuation operations from Afghanistan that saved lives. Both sides agreed on the importance of continuing to advance the U.S.-Kuwait defense partnership through joint training and regional cooperation to address shared threats.
