Al-Yousef to Al-Jarida: Kuwait distances itself from conflicts to protect the homeland
Hours after conducting an on-site assessment of the damage sustained by the Abdali border crossing with Iraq, and promising to reopen the crossing within 48 hours to facilitate trade and passenger movement, followed by a visit to Iraq’s Basra province where he vowed to nip unrest in the bud and affirmed that the two countries would remain “neighbors and brothers” regardless of developments, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousif, emphasized that Kuwait’s policy of neutrality toward regional conflicts “represents a profound strategic wisdom imposed by our political leadership, establishing a protective barrier that safeguards the country’s security and stability, and prioritizing the future of coming generations, reflecting a political maturity accumulated over decades of experience.”
Al-Yousif told Al-Jarida that his country does not wish to ever be a party to war, “but if it is forced upon us, we are prepared, and we will respond in kind, as duty demands the faithful discharge of the responsibility to defend Kuwait without hesitation or delay.” He noted that Kuwait emerged from the trauma of the 1990 invasion with an unforgettable historical lesson: that war yields no winners, and that peace and stability constitute the true capital “for our state, which lies between major regional powers.”
He considered that Kuwait’s sensitive geographic location makes it vulnerable to attempts to use it as a battleground or a leverage card in surrounding conflicts, a situation that demands heightened vigilance and high-level political wisdom.
He pointed out that a country like Kuwait, which has experienced the meaning of occupation and the threat to the nation’s existence, does not need anyone to remind it of the value of the homeland or explain the meaning of sovereignty. He added that those who have lived through that ordeal know that the homeland is not merely lines on a map, “but rather memory, identity, and the security we bequeath to our children. Therefore, lives are considered expendable, no matter the cost, in defense of Kuwait and to preserve its trust and safeguard it for those who come after us.”
He warned that the most dangerous avenues leading to entanglement in wars are not necessarily military, but primarily media-driven and populist, through inflammatory rhetoric and the spread of rumors to lure public opinion into uncalculated or irresponsible positions. He affirmed that strengthening national unity and rejecting any attempts to incite fitna (discord) represent our strongest weapon against any effort to drag the country into conflicts that do not concern it.
He stressed that the price of any compromise on the policy of neutrality would be exorbitant on human, economic, and geopolitical levels, considering that war is not measured solely by material loss figures, but by the generations whose hopes are erased and dreams aborted before they can mature. “We are well aware of this,” he said, noting that no one desires war or underestimates its calamities.
