Pakistan | By Web Desk
ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI — Pakistan and Kuwait signed a new defence protocol on Thursday that expands military cooperation in training, capacity building and border management, taking a relationship established under their 2023 Defence Cooperation Agreement into a more operational phase as Gulf states reassess security partnerships amid continuing regional tensions. The “Protocol Agreement-2026” was signed during a visit by Kuwaiti Defence Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Saleem Al-Sabah, who held talks with Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
Under the agreement, Pakistan’s armed forces will provide assistance to Kuwait’s military across several areas, including professional training, institutional capacity building and border management, as well as other fields agreed by the two countries. Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence said the protocol significantly strengthens the framework created by the Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in June 2023, which Kuwait formally ratified only last month. That earlier framework covers military education and training, joint exercises, personnel and expert exchanges, logistics, military intelligence and scientific and technological cooperation.
The Kuwaiti delegation also met Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. According to Pakistan’s military, the discussions covered regional security and bilateral defence cooperation, with both sides committing to stronger institutional military ties. Kuwaiti officials also praised the professionalism and operational capabilities of Pakistan’s armed forces and their contribution to regional security.
The timing gives the agreement greater strategic significance. Reuters reported in July that Islamabad and Kuwait City had been discussing a potentially much broader security arrangement as Kuwait sought additional protection amid the Iran conflict. Sources told Reuters at the time that Kuwait’s proposals had included Pakistani troops, fighter aircraft, drones and air-defence capabilities, although Pakistani officials stressed that combat troop deployment was not under consideration at that stage.
Thursday’s publicly announced protocol is considerably narrower than those reported proposals. Neither government announced a collective-defence commitment, combat deployment, fighter aircraft deployment or an obligation requiring Pakistan to enter a conflict on Kuwait’s behalf. Instead, the confirmed agreement focuses on training, capacity building, border management and other mutually agreed areas of military cooperation.
That distinction is important because Pakistan has been rapidly expanding its defence diplomacy across the Gulf and wider region. Kuwait’s ratification of the 2023 agreement came after a series of high-level contacts in which the two countries also discussed energy, investment, labour and trade cooperation. The new protocol now gives the military side of that relationship a more concrete mechanism for Pakistani assistance to Kuwaiti forces.