First published in 1989, this title explores the nature and dimensions of the U.S. strategy in the Gulf in the formative years that followed the fall of the Shah, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. It describes the formation of the U.S. Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force and the U.S. Central Command, their force structure and the network of U.S. bases and facilities in the region. The role of pro-Western countries in the wider region, in particular Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, in the formulation of strategy is discussed in detail, along with a more general assessment of the achievements and failures of U.S. strategy in the Gulf towards the end of the 1980s. In light of the persistent struggle for peace within the Middle East, this is a timely reissue, which will be of great interest to students researching U.S. military strategy over the past thirty years.

After being granted full independence in 1961, Kuwait began its tumultuous relationship with the US. This book sets out to investigate this alliance within the frameworks of a ‘small state’ and ‘influence’, and in particular under the US presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush. The political, diplomatic and military aspects are examined which have both stalled and enhanced the bilateral relationship at different times and events. The relationship between the two countries has not always been a straightforward one. Kuwait, overshadowed by its bigger neighbour Saudi Arabia, was regarded as a derivative interest by the US and its role within the region more often than not underestimated. Shedding new light on this key political alliance, the book details how this uneasy relationship evolved while Kuwait maintained its independent foreign policy, which contradicted US national interest. Illuminating and informative, it is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Middle East politics and international relations.

The Persian Gulf, important because of its vast energy resources, emerged into the limelight of geopolitics at the time of the British Labour government’s policy of withdrawal from East of Suez in 1968. Before 1968 it had been recognised that the Gulf lay in the legitimate sphere of influence of Britain, while the United States exerted its influence in the two pivotal littoral states of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Soviets had been gaining influence in Iraq ever since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 and the Chinese were also fishing for influence by their support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Arabian Gulf. This book examines the political axes of the various super-powers with Iran and the Persian Gulf and discusses the implications of these problems for the issue of security in the region.