Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan and Kuwait signed a brand new defence settlement on Thursday, with Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence saying it considerably enhances a navy 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 Settlement-2026” in Rawalpindi.
Beneficial Tales
listing of 4 gadgetsfinish of listing
Beneath the deal, Pakistan’s armed forces will assist prepare Kuwait’s navy, construct its defence capability and help with border administration, the ministry mentioned in a press release.
The deal builds on an underlying settlement signed in June 2023 however solely formally ratified by Kuwait final month.
The settlement is the newest in a rising listing.
Lately, Pakistan has signed a mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, joined a trilateral collective-security agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye known as the “Mecca Pact”, deployed 1000’s of troops and a fighter squadron to Saudi Arabia, and deepened coaching preparations with Qatar.
Pakistan has supplied coaching and manpower to Gulf militaries for many years. What has modified is the tempo and visibility of that function, and the readiness of Gulf capitals to formalise it by means of signed agreements fairly than quiet cooperation.
The query raised by this run of agreements is much less about anybody pact than the sample itself: Why do Gulf states maintain turning to Pakistan, and what does Pakistan achieve by saying sure?
A extra formal relationship
Kuwait is the latest Gulf state to show to Islamabad.
![Kuwait's Defence Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Saleem Al-Sabah meets Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Aug 27, 2026. [Handout via Inter-Services Public Relations]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ISPR-CDF-Kuwait-1787911241.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C387&quality=80)
Defence cooperation with Kuwait dates to the late Sixties. Within the 1990-91 Gulf Battle, Pakistan despatched a big navy contingent to Saudi Arabia, positioned defensively round Mecca and Madinah after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Zahid Mahmood, a former two-star Pakistani basic and now a defence analyst, mentioned that historical past is the backdrop to Thursday’s signing. “Pakistan-Kuwait defence collaboration is just not new,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
In line with Mahmood, the deal can’t be in contrast with the Strategic Mutual Defence Settlement (SMDA) that Pakistan signed with Saudi Arabia final September. It accommodates no clause resembling the central dedication of the Mecca Pact or the SMDA, each of which deal with aggression towards one signatory as aggression towards all.
The partnership with Kuwait contains coaching, logistics, intelligence sharing and joint workouts, overseen by an annual joint navy committee.
“What we are able to say is that Kuwait seems to be transferring from primary defence cooperation in direction of a extra structured safety partnership. It doesn’t imply there’s an Article 5-style collective-defence dedication in place. However it’s significantly extra institutionalised and structured than earlier than,” Mahmood mentioned.
Umer Karim, an affiliate fellow on the King Faisal Centre for Analysis and Islamic Research in Riyadh, instructed Al Jazeera the brand new settlement offers Pakistan a task not simply in growing Kuwait’s broader defence capabilities however particularly in securing its border with Iraq.
“If Pakistani troops get deployed to Kuwait and are positioned on its border, it primarily brings this settlement nearer to the Pak-Saudi one,” he mentioned. “For now, Pakistan’s defence engagement with Gulf states is starting to take a extra concrete form. Whereas it nonetheless is just not primarily a safety umbrella, it’s serving to these states diversify their defence partnerships and add one other layer of deterrence.”
Yousef Al-Mulla, a retired Kuwaiti air pressure major-general, made an identical level to the pan-Arab outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, noting that Pakistan’s rising military-industrial functionality and nuclear standing give it “strategic weight”.
What Pakistan brings
Analysts imagine confidence in Washington’s Gulf safety ensures weakened after Israel struck a compound internet hosting Hamas officers in Doha, Qatar, in September 2025. The Hamas leaders have been a part of a group of negotiators concerned on the time in oblique negotiations with Israel, when Israel bombed Qatar.
Days later, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the SMDA.
In the course of the US-Iran conflict that started in February this yr, Iranian strikes hit US and Kuwaiti targets on Kuwaiti soil, together with one which killed six US troopers close to Port Shuaiba.
Salman Al-Jawana, head of the political press part on the Kuwait Journalists Syndicate, instructed Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the settlement “shouldn’t be learn as an bizarre bilateral pact, however within the context of reshaping the safety surroundings within the Gulf after the escalation of regional threats”.
Pakistan’s personal benefits assist clarify why it’s a beneficiary of that reshaping.
Karim identified that Pakistan is the one nuclear-armed nation within the Muslim world.
It additionally occupies a uncommon diplomatic house: It’s a central mediator within the conflict between the US and Iran, its management trusted by each nations, whereas additionally managing sturdy relations with Arab nations within the Center East and China, the rising superpower that the area’s nations wish to woo.
That permits nations which have historically relied on a US safety umbrella to broaden their choices with out upsetting Washington in the way in which an identical set of offers with China may need.
What’s in it for Pakistan?
What Islamabad good points is much less settled than what it supplies.
Pakistan acquired a document $41.6bn in remittances within the final monetary yr, based on the State Financial institution of Pakistan, with near half coming from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Discipline Marshal Munir instructed Pakistani businessmen in 2023 that Gulf states might make investments as much as $100bn within the nation. Three years on, delivered funding stays a fraction of that determine.
Karim mentioned that what Pakistan might count on from Kuwait stays unclear.
“It’s not clear what Pakistan will achieve in return, however almost certainly the help from Kuwait can come within the type of subsidised vitality provides, although that can solely mature if the Strait of Hormuz saga ends in a single method or one other. Kuwait may additionally open up visas for Pakistani employees,” he mentioned. The nation is at present dwelling to about 95,000 Pakistanis.
Mahmood framed the broader achieve in starker phrases.
“Any strategic cooperation of this sort makes you way more related, and that relevance now extends nicely past the area,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
The previous navy official mentioned the Kuwait settlement might additionally probably “strengthen our financial relationships” and assist handle a few of Pakistan’s financial challenges.
“There are, after all, dangers, notably given the type of battle within the area, which turns into extraordinarily harmful if fought alongside sectarian strains. However they’re far outweighed by the benefits Pakistan is gaining, and can proceed to achieve, from this strategic strategy going ahead,” he mentioned.
