Pakistan and Kuwait discuss expanded defence pact: Sources

Highlights:

• Kuwait wants troops, jets, drones under new defence pact
• Realistic scope of agreement under review, talks at early stage
• Pakistan would seek energy cooperation in return, sources say

Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, according to five sources with knowledge of the talks.

The talks remain at an early stage, all the sources said, and could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, said one source.

Reuters reported on Thursday that there were mounting concerns in Islamabad that its mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, signed last year, could draw Pakistan into the US-Iran war. 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.

Any defence deal with Kuwait, which has come under heavy attacks from Iran this year, would also raise questions about Pakistan's role in future mediation between the US and Iran.

Kuwait has had 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," said a Pakistani government official.

It is unclear 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," said a Pakistani security official with knowledge of the talks. "But let me be clear about one thing: We are not and we cannot consider a deployment of combat troops at this stage."

A Middle Eastern source confirmed that Kuwait has been in conversations with Pakistan, including about defence procurement, but said it was "not clear this will amount to a defence pact per se."

Reuters 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 requests for comment.

Search for defence alternatives

Pakistan and Gulf states have over the past year seen advantages to striking new regional defence pacts.

Pakistan maintains a large military and produces its own fighter jets. This has made it a possible alternative or addition to US protection among Gulf states, as they have grown more wary about the reliability of the US as an ally.

Pakistan is seen in Kuwait as a safe bet, said a source in the Middle East familiar with Kuwait's security planning.

"They 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," the source said.

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.

Barrels for boots

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 push by Pakistan's energy ministry to boost its oil and fuel reserves.

Kuwait is exploring a bonded fuel storage with Pakistan that would build on an existing government-to-government diesel supply deal between the two countries, a Pakistani source aware of the talks said.

Such offers could still be sufficiently attractive for Pakistan's leadership to pursue a larger defence deal, said two sources, adding that negotiations were expected to pick up in speed once US-Iran tensions subside.

Analysts cautioned that this might turn out to be wishful thinking. "Pakistan has to be cognisant of dangers of over-commitment," said Muhammad Faisal, a South Asia researcher at the University of Technology in Sydney.