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Powell in Kuwait for Talks on US Policy Towards Iraq
US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived here on Sunday for talks with Kuwaiti leaders on the policy of the new US government towards Iraq.
Powell was greeted at the airport by Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah and a number of other high-level officials, the official Kuwait News Agency reported.
Earlier reports said that talks between Powell and Kuwaiti leaders were likely to focus on "renewed U.S. efforts to contain Iraq."
U.S. and British warplanes launched air strikes against southern areas of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on February 16, killing two civilians and wounding at least 20 others.
Kuwait, along with neighboring Saudi Arabia, provides bases for U.S. and British warplanes for patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq imposed after the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
Powell's visit to Kuwait, the fifth leg of his first Middle East tour after taking office last month, coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War.
He will attend celebrations on Monday to mark the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
Powell has visited Egypt, Israel, Palestinian self-rule areas and Jordan, and will travel on to Syria and Saudi Arabia after Kuwait.
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