Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a globally significant pulse crop that plays a crucial part in warranting global food security. However, the increasing occurrences of drought stress, attributed to global climate change, pose challenges to chickpea growth and yield worldwide. Plant breeding efforts have directed significant strides in developing chickpea cultivars with high yield levels with tolerance to drought. Nonetheless, the genetic resources of chickpeas, including various landraces and crop wild relatives (CWR) preserved in global gene banks, warrant prioritized attention to unlock greater genetic variability to enhance tolerance to drought in chickpeas. Remarkable progress in chickpea genomics has facilitated the development of numerous molecular markers associated with characteristics like tolerance to drought. Consequently, these genomic resources have played a crucial role in embracing genomic-assisted breeding and genomic selection (GS) to develop the next generation of drought-tolerant chickpea cultivars. Moreover, the availability of the chickpea genome, whole-genome resequencing (WGRS) resources, and pan-genome assemblies could significantly benefit the exploration of novel genomic variants relevant to drought tolerance. Advancements in chickpea functional genomics have contributed to the elucidation of several candidate genes and their precise functions that contribute to drought tolerance. Additionally, emerging breeding tools like rapid generation advancement (RGA), artificial intelligence-based breeding, and genome editing hold promise to further accelerate the development of next-generation chickpea varieties, ensuring global food assistance by promoting sustainable agriculture.