- 2 months ago
Kuwait’s reported shift toward a new strategic defense arrangement with Pakistan has sparked wide discussion across the Middle East, South Asia, and global security circles. The move is being interpreted by analysts as more than a routine bilateral update, because it reflects changing assumptions about security partnerships, regional balancing, and military self-reliance. For decades, Kuwait has relied heavily on Western security guarantees, especially from the United States, which has maintained a strong military presence in the Gulf since the 1991 Gulf War. A pact with Pakistan therefore carries symbolic and practical significance. It signals that Kuwait may be seeking broader defense options in a period marked by geopolitical uncertainty, rising regional tensions, and a more multipolar world order.
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00:00Kuwait has relied on the United States for its security for decades, but that is starting to
00:04change. The Gulf nation has just signed a strategic defense pact with Pakistan,
00:08and the real reason behind it has a lot of people wondering if this is just the beginning
00:12of a much bigger change in the Middle East. Let me break it down.
00:16The Decree That Made It Official
00:18On the 26th of July, 2026, Kuwait ratified a wide-ranging defense cooperation agreement
00:24with Pakistan. The order came through Decree Law No. 73 of 2026. It was issued under the
00:29Amir Sheikh Mishal al-Hamad al-Jabr al-Saba and published in the country's official
00:33Gazette, Kuwait al-Yam. The agreement took effect on the day it was published. The paperwork
00:37was new. The deal behind it had been in place for three years. The two countries first signed
00:41this agreement on 11 June, 2023. Inside Kuwait's Ministry of Defense, Pakistan's Ambassador Malik
00:47Mohammed Farah put his name to it for Islamabad. Brigadier General Fawaz Qudar Mohammed al-Harbi
00:52signed for Kuwait. What happened in 2026 was the final legal step that turned that signature
00:57into law. That final step came by decree for a reason. Kuwait's National Assembly has been
01:01suspended since May of 2024, so the parliament could not vote the agreement through. Under Kuwait's
01:06constitution, the Amir can approve international agreements by decree when the assembly is not
01:11sitting, so the pact with Pakistan was ratified from the top. The agreement itself is broad. It
01:15sets up cooperation across close to a dozen areas, and each one touches a different corner
01:19of the two militaries. There is military training and education. There is direct cooperation between the
01:24armed forces. There is logistics and military support, and the exchange of personnel, technical
01:29experts, and specialists between the two sides. The list goes deeper than boots and training fields.
01:34The agreement covers scientific and technological cooperation, and it covers military intelligence.
01:39It covers information technology, electronic systems, and communications. It covers military
01:43industries, manufacturing, and research, which opens the door to building defense equipment together.
01:48It even reaches into military media, cultural activity, and sports between the forces.
01:52To keep all of this running, the agreement builds a body to manage it. A joint military committee sits
01:57at the center of the deal. Each defense minister appoints someone to co-chair it. The committee meets
02:01at least once a year, and the location switches between the two countries each time. Its job is to
02:05review what has been done, approve plans for the year ahead, and turn those plans into working
02:09programs. The terms give the deal a long shelf life. The agreement runs for five years and renews
02:14itself automatically unless one side gives written notice to end it, usually six months in advance.
02:19The confidentiality rules are strict. Classified information cannot be passed to any third
02:23party without written consent, and that duty holds even after the agreement ends. Any dispute is to
02:28be settled between the two governments through talks, with no outside court or arbitrator involved.
02:33The fine print spells out who owns what. Research each country does on its own stays with that country.
02:37Work the two do together is shared, and neither side can hand it to a third party without consent.
02:42On money, the agreement uses a reciprocity rule, where the host usually covers local costs for
02:47short official visits. The two ministries of defense are named as the authorities in charge
02:51of carrying all of this out. Kuwaiti outlets carried the news quickly and in detail. Kuwait Times,
02:56Arab Times, Times Kuwait, and the Thursday Times all reported the ratification within the same
03:01window. The message across all of them was the same. Kuwait had locked in a formal defense framework
03:06with a nuclear-armed partner from South Asia. The war that lit the fuse
03:11Kuwait signed this agreement in the middle of a war. From late February of 2026, the region fell
03:16into open conflict, and Iran began firing missiles and drones at Gulf states and at United States
03:22facilities across the region. Kuwait sat directly in the line of fire. The attacks hit the places
03:27that keep the country running. Iranian strikes targeted Kuwait International Airport, and a drone
03:31hit Terminal 1 on 3 June, killing one civilian and injuring 63. Strikes came down on desalination
03:37plants, which matter enormously in a country that pulls most of its drinking water from the
03:41sea. They hit power stations, ports, and oil sites, including the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.
03:46The desalination hits carried a weight beyond the damage itself. Kuwait has almost no natural
03:51fresh water, so the plants that turn seawater into drinking water are a lifeline. An attack on them
03:56reaches into daily survival, and it made the search for stronger defense feel personal for ordinary
04:00Kuwaitis. American bases on Kuwaiti soil were targets too. Ali al-Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan,
04:06Camp Buring, and Al-Doha all came under fire during the campaign. These are the same
04:11bases that anchor the United States' presence in Kuwait, and the same presence Kuwait has leaned
04:15on for protection since the early 1990s. The human cost added up over the months. Compiled reports
04:21counted at least four Kuwaiti soldiers and seven civilians killed, with dozens of soldiers and more
04:25than 100 civilians injured across the period. The attacks continued even when the fighting was
04:30supposed to pause. They carried on into July, while ceasefire talks were underway. Iran framed some of
04:35the strikes as payback. It said it was retaliating against United States' actions in the region,
04:39and against what it called Gulf help for those actions. Kuwait, like its neighbors, was caught
04:44between a superpower ally and an angry neighbor firing across the water. The strikes were not
04:49aimed at Kuwait alone. Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar were hit as well.
04:54The United Arab Emirates publicly condemned the Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait and stood with
04:59its Gulf neighbors. The whole Gulf was living through the same threat at the same time. For Kuwait,
05:04the lesson was hard to miss. The country had built its security around the American umbrella for decades,
05:08and that umbrella did not stop missiles from landing on its airport, its water plants, and its power
05:13grid. Analysts tied Kuwait's moved toward Pakistan directly to these repeated Iranian attacks. A
05:18partner with a large, battle-tested military suddenly looked like something worth having on paper.
05:23The war also reshaped how Gulf governments thought about safety. For years they had spread their bets,
05:28keeping American weapons while talking to Iran and Israel and reaching out to Turkey and India.
05:32The 2026 conflict pushed that hedging into a higher gear, and it sped up deals that had been
05:37moving slowly. Kuwait's agreement with Pakistan was one of them. The campaign dragged on far longer
05:42than a single strike. It opened in late February and ran through the spring and into the summer,
05:46hitting the same categories of targets again and again. Friendly fire and other accidents added to
05:51the toll during the confusion. By the time the decree was signed, Kuwaitis had spent months watching
05:55their own skies. This is the backdrop that turned a three-year-old agreement into an urgent piece of
06:00business. The deal with Pakistan had been signed since 2023 and was still waiting on ratification.
06:05Once the missiles started falling, finishing it became a priority. The timing of the decree,
06:09weeks into a war on Kuwaiti soil, is the first clue to why the story caught fire.
06:14The Saudi Blueprint
06:15To understand why the world read Kuwait's move as a strategic defense pact, you have to look north
06:21at Saudi Arabia. Kuwait was not the first Gulf state to reach for Pakistan during this stretch.
06:26Saudi Arabia had already done it, and it had done it in a much bigger way.
06:29Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a strategic mutual defense agreement on 17 September,
06:342025, in Riyadh. The heart of that pact is one line. It states that any aggression against either
06:39country shall be considered an aggression against both. That line makes it a mutual defense treaty
06:43in the fullest sense. An attack on Saudi Arabia becomes an attack on Pakistan, and the reverse.
06:48When the 2026 war arrived, that promise turned into real force on the ground. Pakistan deployed a
06:53package of around 8,000 troops to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, with higher ceilings discussed in
06:58the confidential text. It sent a squadron of about 16 JF-17 Thunder Fighters, the jet it builds
07:03together with China, along with drone units and Chinese-origin HQ-9 air defense systems.
07:08Pakistani crews ran those air defense batteries, and Saudi Arabia paid for them. The confidential
07:13text reportedly allowed for far larger numbers, into the tens of thousands, if the two governments
07:19ever called for them. The numbers told the story of how serious Riyadh and Islamabad had become.
07:23Reports on the troop figures varied by source, ranging as high as 13,000 in some accounts,
07:28and they converged around a real and sizable force. This was a standing deployment inside a
07:33Gulf Kingdom during an active war, with live crews on live systems. That is the template that
07:37hung over Kuwait's decree. The Saudi pact treats an attack on one as an attack on both, and it is
07:42backed by soldiers, jets, and air defense batteries actually sitting on Saudi soil. It is the strongest
07:48version of what a Gulf state can buy from Pakistan, and it was signed only a year before Kuwait
07:52finished its own deal. Pakistan was a natural fit for this role. Its military has trained
07:56thousands of Gulf personnel over the years, and its ties to the region stretch back decades.
08:01It has stationed troops in Saudi Arabia before, going back generations. So when a Gulf capital
08:06wanted a large Muslim-majority army to stand behind it, Pakistan was the obvious phone call.
08:11That presence in the Gulf is not new. Pakistani officers and instructors have rotated through Saudi
08:16bases for generations, and its pilots and advisors have shaped Gulf air forces for decades.
08:20That long track record is what let Riyadh move so fast in 2025, and it is the same track record
08:26Kuwait was buying into a year later. The Saudi deal changed the mood across the whole Gulf. Bahrain,
08:31Qatar, and Jordan were all reported to be interested in training, weapons, or arrangements of their own
08:36with Pakistan. Islamabad had even stepped into the role of mediator, working with Qatar to help talks
08:41between the United States and Iran, including a framework signed in its own capital. So the picture by
08:46mid-2026 was clear. One nuclear-armed Muslim country was becoming the security partner of
08:51choice for Gulf states that felt exposed. Saudi Arabia had gone all the way to a mutual defense
08:56treaty with troops on the ground. When Kuwait signed its own agreement with the same partner,
09:00weeks into a war, it looked to many like the next country falling in line behind the Saudi model.
09:06Why Pakistan and what Kuwait wants next? The pull toward Pakistan runs on more than history.
09:12Pakistan brings a large combat-experienced military to the table, one that has spent decades in
09:17advisory, training, and limited deployment roles across the Gulf. For a small country like Kuwait,
09:22that depth is hard to build alone and easy to borrow. Pakistan's defense industry adds another draw.
09:27Pakistan co-produces the JF-17 Thunder fighter with China, and it builds drones, missiles,
09:33and related systems at home. That opens a path to technology transfer and joint production that pure
09:38Western suppliers rarely offer. A Gulf state working with Pakistan can aim to build equipment together
09:43over time. Then there is the quiet factor that sits behind all of it. Pakistan is a nuclear power.
09:48That status is never formally extended to cover its partners, yet it changes the math for any
09:53country thinking about attacking a Pakistani ally. Add shared religion, deep cultural ties,
09:58and Pakistan's need for Gulf investment, energy deals and jobs for its workers, and the incentives run
10:03in both directions. Those ties already run through everyday life. Pakistan has large expatriate
10:08communities working across the Gulf, and Kuwait hosts a share of them. The money those workers
10:12send home links the two economies at the level of ordinary families, long before any general signs
10:17a document. For Pakistan, closer Gulf ties also carry a message for its rival next door. Every deal that
10:22lifts Pakistan's standing in the Gulf chips at India's influence there, which gives Islamabad a reason
10:28to keep saying yes. Kuwait's move also fits a wider pattern across the Gulf. Governments there are hedging
10:33against doubts over how far United States guarantees will stretch, while keeping those American
10:37ties in place. They have expanded defense and technology links with Tuakia, India and Ukraine,
10:43the last of these for drone and interceptor technology, along with selective deals with
10:47China. Kuwait has been busy on several fronts of its own. In 2026, it ratified an older defense
10:52deal with Ukraine focused on equipment and maintenance, signed agreements with Italy,
10:56and kept its American support running, including sustainment for its Patriot air defense systems.
11:01The Pakistan agreement is one thread in a much larger web Kuwait is weaving.
11:05Now the expanded talks. This is where the story goes bigger than the ratified deal.
11:09Reuters and other outlets have reported early-stage talks for a much broader partnership,
11:13one that could tie defense to energy cooperation and investment, with figures floated in the range
11:18of $20 billion over several years. Those talks are exploratory, and they sit apart from the framework
11:23agreement Kuwait just ratified. Kuwait's own preference, according to the reporting,
11:27leans toward something stronger. Kuwait has signaled interest in a Saudi-style arrangement,
11:31one that could involve Pakistani troops, fighter jets, drones, and air defense systems stationed
11:37to counter the missile and drone threat it just lived through. That would move it much closer to
11:41what Saudi Arabia already has. Pakistan has put the brakes on that idea for now. Islamabad has ruled
11:46out sending combat troops at this stage, pointing to its own capacity limits, its long border with Iran,
11:51and its other commitments. Pakistani officials have signaled they would rather stick to training,
11:56equipment, advisory roles, and air defense support than march soldiers into another Gulf War. For
12:01Pakistan, the appeal cuts both ways. The Gulf deals bring economic relief, strategic depth,
12:06and a higher standing in the region at a time when it wants to counter India's influence. They also carry
12:10risk. Pakistan could get pulled into a fight with Iran, stretch a military already busy on its own
12:15borders, and complicate its balancing act between the United States, China, and its neighbors.
12:20So did Kuwait really ditch America? Now we can weigh the title against the facts. The claim
12:25has two parts. One, that Kuwait signed a strategic defense pact with Pakistan. Two,
12:30that Kuwait ditched its dependence on the United States. The record supports the first part only up
12:35to a point, and it pushes back on the second. Start with what Kuwait actually signed. The agreement
12:39is a defense cooperation agreement. It builds a structure for the two militaries to train together,
12:44share intelligence, move logistics, and one day build equipment together. A mutual defense treaty would
12:50go further and bind each country to defend the other. The way the Saudi pact promises that an attack on
12:55one
12:55is an attack on both. Kuwait and Pakistan did not sign that kind of treaty. Their deal creates a
13:00framework for working together, and it leaves out any promise of automatic combat. The man closest to
13:05the deal made the same point. Pakistan's ambassador to Kuwait, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, said the decree simply
13:10completed Kuwait's normal legal process for the 2023 agreement. He said it was not tied to any recent
13:15regional crisis. He described it as formalizing more than 40 years of military ties that date back to
13:20the early 1980s, giving old cooperation a modern institutional shape. In his telling,
13:25this was housekeeping on a long relationship that had finally reached its last legal step.
13:30Those 40 years of real weight behind them, Pakistani forces took part in clearing mines from Kuwait after
13:35the Gulf War of 1991, a job that cost Pakistani lives. Training, exchanges, and capacity building have
13:41run between the two countries ever since. The ambassador stressed that specific projects like air defense,
13:46drones, electronic warfare, or joint manufacturing, would be decided later through consultation,
13:51and were left out of the text for now. Now the bigger claim that Kuwait ditched the United States.
13:55The facts do not carry it that far. Kuwait kept its American ties fully in place through all of this.
14:00It continued its United States support, including sustainment for its patriot systems,
14:04even as it signed with Pakistan and others. The United States remains Kuwait's main security partner.
14:09Pakistan enters the picture as an addition to that arrangement, and so do Italy and Ukraine.
14:14What the deal really marks is a hedge. Kuwait watched missiles land on its airport and its
14:18water plants, and it decided that leaning on one guarantor had reached its limit. So it added partners,
14:23formalized an old friendship with a nuclear-armed army, and left the door open to something larger
14:27down the road. First Post laid out the same reading, placing the limited Kuwait deal next
14:32to the stronger Saudi one. Where it goes next depends on forces outside Kuwait's control. If the war
14:37with Iran keeps flaring, and if the bigger talks over troops, jets, and $20 billion in investment
14:42turnreel, Kuwait could edge toward the Saudi model it reportedly wants. Found this information exciting
14:46and unbelievable. Be sure to check out other similar and amazing videos on the screen. Thanks
14:51again for watching, I'll see you in the next video.