{"id":129584,"date":"2026-07-18T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129584"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:01:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:01:01","slug":"pakistan-and-kuwait-mulling-defence-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, the\u00a0<em>Reuters<\/em>\u00a0news agency reported on Friday, citing five sources with knowledge of the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The talks remain at an early stage, it said, and could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kuwait has had a more limited defence deal with Pakistan for training and joint exercises since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is now seeking a show of force by Islamabad that would be similar to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1942611\">Pakistan\u2019s pact with Saudi Arabia<\/a>, including \u201cthousands of Pakistani troops on the ground, fighter jets, drones, an air defence system, and other defence-related facilities\u201d, said a Pakistani government official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKuwait\u2019s wish list includes everything,\u201d said a Pakistani security official with knowledge of the talks. \u201cBut let me be clear about one thing: We are not and we cannot consider a deployment of combat troops at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Middle Eastern source confirmed that Kuwait has been in conversations with Pakistan, including about defence procurement, but said it was \u201cnot clear this will amount to a defence pact per se\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Reuters<\/em>&nbsp;spoke to four Pakistani sources and one Middle Eastern source, none of whom was authorised to speak on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan\u2019s military media wing and Kuwait\u2019s information ministry did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the possible deal with Kuwait, Islam\u00adabad would want cooperation on energy security part of a wider push by Pakistan\u2019s energy ministry to boost its oil and fuel reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, the\u00a0Reuters\u00a0news agency reported on Friday, citing five sources with knowledge of the talks. The talks remain at an early stage, it said, and could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019 - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019 - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, the\u00a0Reuters\u00a0news agency reported on Friday, citing five sources with knowledge of the talks. The talks remain at an early stage, it said, and could still be complicated by heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T05:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T05:01:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-4-24.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/\",\"name\":\"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019 - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-4-24.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-18T05:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-18T05:01:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-4-24.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-4-24.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019 - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129584\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pakistan and Kuwait \u2018mulling defence pact\u2019 - Nation","og_description":"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, the\u00a0Reuters\u00a0news agency reported on Friday, citing five sources with knowledge of the talks. 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