Kuwait is negotiating an expanded defence agreement with Pakistan in exchange for energy cooperation and investment with the South Asian country, according to a Reuters report.
A Pakistani official reportedly said that Kuwait wanted Islamabad to deploy ‘thousands of Pakistani troops on the ground, fighter jets, drones, an air defence system, and other defence-related facilities’.The talks, while at an early stage, underscore how the regional security landscape is being upended by the US-Israeli war on Iran.Kuwait has endured some of the most intense Iranian strikes in retaliation for the war. On July 17, Kuwait said a power and desalination plant had been seriously damaged by Iranian strikes.
Kuwait’s outreach to Pakistan is notable because the Gulf state is home to around 14,000 US troops, more than any other country in the Middle East. The US also has two large bases there namely Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.
Pakistan is a US security partner and enjoys particularly close ties with the Trump administration. It also has cordial ties with Iran, which has allowed it to carve out a key mediator role.The ceasefire that Pakistan and Qatar helped broker between Washington and Tehran is now stands suspended.
But the talks with Kuwait reveal how Islamabad is becoming an alternative, or supplementary power, to the US in the Gulf. In September 2025, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defence agreement with the Muslim world’s only nuclear-armed state.