‘Back to the future’ as US plans bigger Gulf presence

The Obama administration plans to bolster the US military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats.

The repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to any collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. “Back to the future” is how a top US General has referred to the plans.

The plans, which have been under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Barack Obama’s announcement this month that the last US soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December.

After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 US troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the Pentagon is now drawing up an alternative.

In addition to negotiations over maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the US is considering sending more naval warships to international waters in the region.

With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the US has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new “security architecture” for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defence.

The size of the stand-by US combat force to be based in Kuwait remains the subject of negotiations – but, for example, in the time between the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US army kept at least a combat battalion – and sometimes a full combat brigade – in Kuwait year-round, along with an enormous arsenal ready to be unpacked should even more troops have been called to the region.

“Back to the future” is how Major-General Karl Horst, Central Command’s chief of staff, described planning for a new posture in the Gulf. He said the command was focusing on smaller but highly capable deployments and training partnerships with regional militaries.

“We are kind of thinking of going back to the way it was before we had a big ‘boots on the ground’ presence,” Maj-Gen Horst said. “I think it is healthy. I think it is efficient. I think it is practical.”

Mr Obama and his national security advisers have sought to reassure allies and criticsthat the US will not abandon its commitments in the Persian Gulf as it winds down the war in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Co-operation Council is seeking to exert its diplomatic and military influence in the region and beyond. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, for example, sent combat aircraft to the Mediterranean as part of the Nato-led intervention in Libya, while Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates each have forces in Afghanistan. At the same time, however, the council sent a mostly Saudi ground force into Bahrain to support that government’s suppression of demonstrations this year, despite international criticism.

The council will meet in December to discuss the US’s plans for stronger military ties with the six gulf nations.