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Pakistan-Kuwait defence pact may turn to Saudi model as Gulf seeks alternatives to US: Report
Kuwait has a more limited defence deal with Pakistan for training and joint exercises since 2023. It is now seeking a bigger commitment from Islamabad.
Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, news agency Reuters reported exclusively citing sources with knowledge of the talks. The Gulf nation has also ratified the original pact signed in June 2023, following high-level military contacts between the two countries, news agency Sputnik reported.
Talks for a wider cooperation agreement remain at an early stage, Reuters said citing five sources. And the move could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, said one source.
There was already mounting concern in Islamabad that its mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, signed last year, could draw Pakistan into the US-Iran war, as the pact says any aggression against one is also an attack on the other. After the Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched an attack on Saudi Arabia on Monday, nuclear-armed Pakistan told Iran it would treat attacks on the kingdom as attacks on itself.
A bigger defence deal with Kuwait, which has come under heavy attacks from Iran this year, could raise further questions about Pakistan's role in future mediation between the US and Iran.
Pact that exists, and how it may be widened
Kuwait has a more limited defence deal with Pakistan for training and joint exercises since 2023. It is now seeking a show of force by Islamabad that would be similar to Pakistan's pact with Saudi Arabia, including “thousands of Pakistani troops on the ground, fighter jets, drones, an air defence system, and other defence-related facilities”, a Pakistani government official told Reuters.
It was unclear so far whether Pakistan is willing to go this far, given that its agreement with Saudi Arabia was the result of a decades-old close alliance with Riyadh.
“Kuwait's wish list includes everything,” a Pakistani security official with knowledge of the talks told the news agency, “But let me be clear about one thing: We are not and we cannot consider a deployment of combat troops at this stage.”
Reuters said it spoke to four Pakistani sources and one Middle Eastern source, none of whom was authorised to speak on the record. Pakistan's military media wing and Kuwait's information ministry did not respond to its requests for comment.
Search for US alternatives
Pakistan and Gulf states have over the past year seen advantages to striking new regional defence pacts. Nuclear-armed Pakistan maintains a large military and at least co-produces some of its fighter jets, with China being a major helper.
This has made it a possible alternative, or an addition to US protection, among fellow Muslim Gulf states, as doubts grow over the reliability of US under Donald Trump in particular.
“They (Pakistan) are already in with the Saudis, they have a long history of defence development, they are Muslim Sunni, they have a good relationship with the Americans, so it's not as sensitive as some other options,” one of the sources told Reuters.
Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been preparing a draft agreement for a mutual defence pact, separate to the one Islamabad has with Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Bahrain is interested in a similar pact, one source said, and Jordan has expressed interest in a weapons and training deal, three sources said.
Pakistan has viewed defence deals with neighbouring nations as a way to shore up investments the country urgently needs. As part of the possible deal with Kuwait, Islamabad would want cooperation on energy security, part of a wider boost to its oil and fuel reserves.
