With Kuwait deal, Pakistan expands defence umbrella across Middle East

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan and Kuwait signed a new defence agreement on Thursday, with Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence saying it significantly enhances a military cooperation framework in place since 2023.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, signed the “Protocol Agreement-2026” in Rawalpindi.

Under the deal, Pakistan’s armed forces will help train Kuwait’s military, build its defence capacity and assist with border management, the ministry said in a statement.

The deal builds on an underlying agreement signed in June 2023 but only formally ratified by Kuwait last month.

The agreement is the latest in a growing list.

In recent years, Pakistan has signed a mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, joined a trilateral collective-security agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye called the “Mecca Pact”, deployed thousands of troops and a fighter squadron to Saudi Arabia, and deepened training arrangements with Qatar.

Pakistan has offered training and manpower to Gulf militaries for decades. What has changed is the pace and visibility of that role, and the readiness of Gulf capitals to formalise it through signed agreements rather than quiet cooperation.

The question raised by this run of agreements is less about any one pact than the pattern itself: Why do Gulf states keep turning to Pakistan, and what does Pakistan gain by saying yes?

Kuwait is the most recent Gulf state to turn to Islamabad.

Defence cooperation with Kuwait dates to the late 1960s. In the 1990-91 Gulf War, Pakistan sent a large military contingent to Saudi Arabia, positioned defensively around Mecca and Madinah after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Zahid Mahmood, a former two-star Pakistani general and now a defence analyst, said that history is the backdrop to Thursday’s signing. “Pakistan-Kuwait defence collaboration is not new,” he told Al Jazeera.

According to Mahmood, the deal cannot be compared with the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) that Pakistan signed with Saudi Arabia last September. It contains no clause resembling the central commitment of the Mecca Pact or the SMDA, both of which treat aggression against one signatory as aggression against all.

The partnership with Kuwait includes training, logistics, intelligence sharing and joint exercises, overseen by an annual joint military committee.

“What we can say is that Kuwait appears to be moving from basic defence cooperation towards a more structured security partnership. It doesn’t mean there’s an Article 5-style collective-defence commitment in place. But it is considerably more institutionalised and structured than before,” Mahmood said.

Umer Karim, an associate fellow at the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, told Al Jazeera the new agreement gives Pakistan a role not just in developing Kuwait’s broader defence capabilities but specifically in securing its border with Iraq.

“If Pakistani troops get deployed to Kuwait and are positioned on its border, it essentially brings this agreement closer to the Pak-Saudi one,” he said. “For now, Pakistan’s defence engagement with Gulf states is beginning to take a more concrete shape. While it still is not essentially a security umbrella, it is helping these states diversify their defence partnerships and add another layer of deterrence.”

Yousef Al-Mulla, a retired Kuwaiti air force major-general, made a similar point to the pan-Arab outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, noting that Pakistan’s growing military-industrial capability and nuclear status give it “strategic weight”.

Analysts believe confidence in Washington’s Gulf security guarantees weakened after Israel struck a compound hosting Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, in September 2025. The Hamas leaders were part of a team of negotiators involved at the time in indirect negotiations with Israel, when Israel bombed Qatar.

Days later, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the SMDA.

During the US-Iran war that began in February this year, Iranian strikes hit US and Kuwaiti targets on Kuwaiti soil, including one that killed six US soldiers near Port Shuaiba.

Salman Al-Jawana, head of the political press section at the Kuwait Journalists Syndicate, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the agreement “should not be read as an ordinary bilateral pact, but in the context of reshaping the security environment in the Gulf after the escalation of regional threats”.

Pakistan’s own advantages help explain why it is a beneficiary of that reshaping.

Karim pointed out that Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed country in the Muslim world.

It also occupies a rare diplomatic space: It is a central mediator in the war between the US and Iran, its leadership trusted by both countries, while also managing strong relations with Arab nations in the Middle East and China, the rising superpower that the region’s nations want to woo.

That allows countries that have traditionally relied on a US security umbrella to expand their options without upsetting Washington in the way a similar set of deals with China might have.

What Islamabad gains is less settled than what it provides.

Pakistan received a record $41.6bn in remittances in the last financial year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan, with close to half coming from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Field Marshal Munir told Pakistani businessmen in 2023 that Gulf states could invest up to $100bn in the country. Three years on, delivered investment remains a fraction of that figure.

Karim said that what Pakistan could expect from Kuwait remains unclear.

“It is not clear what Pakistan will gain in return, but most likely the support from Kuwait can come in the form of subsidised energy supplies, though that will only mature if the Strait of Hormuz saga ends in one manner or another. Kuwait may also open up visas for Pakistani workers,” he said. The country is currently home to about 95,000 Pakistanis.

Mahmood framed the wider gain in starker terms.

“Any strategic cooperation of this kind makes you far more relevant, and that relevance now extends well beyond the region,” he told Al Jazeera.

The former military official said the Kuwait agreement could also potentially “strengthen our economic relationships” and help address some of Pakistan’s economic challenges.

“There are, of course, risks, particularly given the kind of conflict in the region, which becomes extremely dangerous if fought along sectarian lines. But they are far outweighed by the advantages Pakistan is gaining, and will continue to gain, from this strategic approach going forward,” he said.