Talks over a possible Pakistan Kuwait defence pact are underway, with Islamabad negotiating an expanded security arrangement in exchange for energy cooperation and investment from Kuwait, according to five sources with knowledge of the discussions. The sources said the talks remain at an early stage and could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
The discussions come days after it was reported growing concern in Islamabad that Pakistan’s mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, signed last year, could draw the country into a wider US-Iran confrontation. That concern has taken on added weight since the Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched an attack on Saudi Arabia earlier this week, prompting nuclear-armed Pakistan to declare that it would treat any attack on the kingdom as an attack on itself. Given that Kuwait has itself come under repeated Iranian strikes this year, a formal defence arrangement with Islamabad would raise similar questions about Pakistan’s position in any future mediation between Washington and Tehran.
What a Pakistan Kuwait Defence Pact Could Include
A Middle Eastern source confirmed that Kuwait and Pakistan have been in active conversation, including on matters of defence procurement, though the source cautioned that it remained uncertain whether the talks would result in a formal agreement. Kuwait has maintained a more limited defence arrangement with Pakistan since 2023, focused mainly on military training and joint exercises.
According to a Pakistani government official, Kuwait is now seeking a far more substantial commitment, one that would resemble Pakistan’s existing pact with Saudi Arabia and could involve thousands of Pakistani troops stationed on the ground, along with fighter jets, drones, air defence systems, and other defence-related infrastructure.
Whether Pakistan is prepared to extend that level of commitment to Kuwait remains unclear. Its agreement with Saudi Arabia grew out of a decades-old strategic relationship between the two countries, and analysts note that replicating that arrangement elsewhere in the Gulf would mark a significant shift in Pakistan’s regional defence posture. A Pakistani security official summed up the scale of Kuwait’s ambitions, noting that its wish list includes everything.
Pakistan’s Position in a Shifting Gulf Security Landscape
For its part, Pakistan appears to be approaching the talks from a different angle, prioritising economic returns over military deployment. Reports indicate that Islamabad is pressing for cooperation on energy security and investment rather than immediate troop deployment, and that it is not currently considering sending combat forces into Kuwait as part of any arrangement. Kuwait, meanwhile, is understood to be seeking a broader security relationship that would include ground forces, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and air defence systems, reflecting its own heightened sense of vulnerability after months of regional strikes.
The interest from Kuwait fits into a broader pattern across the Gulf. Over the past year, several Gulf states have moved to explore new or expanded defence arrangements with Pakistan, drawn by its large standing military and its ability to produce its own fighter jets domestically. As doubts persist in the region about the long-term reliability of US security guarantees, Pakistan has increasingly been viewed as a credible alternative or supplement to American protection, a role that appears to be shaping its current discussions with both Riyadh and Kuwait City.
Reuters said it spoke to four Pakistani sources and one Middle Eastern source for its reporting, none of whom was authorised to speak publicly on the matter. Pakistan’s military media wing and Kuwait’s information ministry did not respond to requests for comment. With the negotiations still at a preliminary stage and regional tensions showing no sign of easing, the shape and scope of any eventual Pakistan Kuwait defence pact is likely to depend heavily on how the wider standoff between the United States and Iran develops in the coming months.
Published in SouthAsianDesk, July 18, 2026
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