Bangladesh’s Gulf Deployment Strategy: Beyond Peacekeeping and Toward Strategic Autonomy

Reading Time: 6 minutes With traditional UN peacekeeping opportunities diminishing, Bangladesh is recalibrating its defence diplomacy by deepening bilateral military engagements in the Gulf. Leveraging its longstanding deployment in Kuwait, Bangladesh is cultivating strategic defence partnerships with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This article explores the multifaceted benefits, including economic gains, professional military development, and strategic leverage, while also addressing the risks of overextension, domestic sensitivity, and geopolitical entanglement. It evaluates the impact on national defence readiness and outlines how such cooperation may enhance Bangladesh’s access to advanced military systems and diplomatic support in potential regional conflicts. As the global landscape for peacekeeping evolves, countries like Bangladesh historically among the top contributors to UN missions are compelled to rethink their military diplomacy. The gradual decline in large-scale UN operations has narrowed traditional deployment avenues, prompting Dhaka to seek new frontiers. Nowhere is this shift more strategically visible than in the Gulf,