Saudi Arabia, nuclear-armed Pakistan sign mutual defence pact
· Yahoo NewsSaudi Arabia, nuclear-armed Pakistan sign mutual defence pact
1 of 4
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign a defence agreement in Riyadh
By Maha El Dahan and Saeed Shah
DUBAI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact late on Wednesday, significantly strengthening a decades-old security partnership a week after Israel's strikes on Qatar upended the diplomatic calculus in the region.
The enhanced defence ties come as Gulf Arab states grow increasingly wary about the reliability of the United States as a security guarantor.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Asked whether Pakistan would now be obliged to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella, a senior Saudi official told Reuters: "This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means."
Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed, Muslim-majority nation, and also fields the Islamic world's largest army, which it has regularly said is focused on facing down neighbouring foe India.
The agreement was the culmination of years of discussions, the Saudi official said when asked about the timing of the deal. "This is not a response to specific countries or specific events but an institutionalisation of long-standing and deep cooperation between our two countries," the official added.
Israel's attempt on September 9 to kill the political leaders of Hamas with airstrikes on Doha, while they were discussing a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that Qatar is helping to mediate, infuriated Arab countries.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Before the Gaza war, Gulf monarchies - U.S. allies - had sought to stabilise ties with both Iran and Israel to resolve longstanding security concerns. Over the past year, Qatar has been subjected to direct hits twice, once by Iran and once by Israel.
Israel is widely understood to possess a sizeable nuclear arsenal but maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying possessing such weapons.
Pakistan had said its nuclear weapons are only aimed, as a deterrent, against India, and its missiles are designed with a range to hit anywhere to its east in India.
NUCLEAR UMBRELLA
Pakistani state television showed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, embracing after signing the agreement. Also there was Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, regarded as the country's most powerful person.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
"The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both," a statement from the Pakistani prime minister's office said.
Pakistan's decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia - the site of Islam's holiest sites - is rooted in shared faith, strategic interests and economic interdependence.
Pakistan has long had soldiers deployed in Saudi Arabia, currently estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 troops, providing operational, technical and training help to the Saudi military. That includes assistance to the Saudi air and land forces.
Saudi Arabia has loaned Pakistan $3 billion, a deal extended in December, to shore up its foreign exchange reserves.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
The Saudi deal comes months after Pakistan fought a brief military conflict with India in May.
India's ministry of external affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X on Thursday that India was aware of the development, and that it would study its implications for New Delhi's security and for regional stability.
The senior Saudi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the need to balance relations with Pakistan and India, also a nuclear power.
"Our relationship with India is more robust than it has ever been. We will continue to grow this relationship and seek to contribute to regional peace whichever way we can."
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Pakistan and India fought three major wars since the two countries were carved out of British colonial India in 1947.
After they both acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1990s, their conflicts have been more limited in scale because of the danger of nuclear assets coming into play.
(Reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Maha El Dahan in Dubai; additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Writing by Yousef Saba and Ariba Shahid; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Christian Schmollinger and Andrew Heavens)