Pakistan’s coming together with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye comes at a critical moment for West Asia, according to a Dawn opinion piece published on September 30, 2026. The article says the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement could give Islamabad a strategic opening, but warns that its precise operationalisation remains unclear.
What the agreement could mean for Pakistan
The piece says the arrangement was forged in the shadow of the US and Israeli war on Iran and reflects a growing need for regional powers to take greater control of stability in a conflict-hit region.
It says Pakistan and Saudi Arabia already have decades of military and diplomatic cooperation, while Turkiye has extensive defence ties with both countries.
According to the article, with US retrenchment from the region appearing increasingly inevitable, institutionalising these ties could bring more strategic coherence to a region facing complex challenges.
Red Sea tensions and the risk of wider rivalry
The article says one early test will be the present crisis involving Ansarullah, also known as the Houthis, in the Red Sea. It warns that the alliance must avoid becoming a source of further division in the Middle East.
It says Saudi Arabia is important to Pakistan as a source of energy and financial support, and because a large Pakistani diaspora in the kingdom sends remittances that contribute significantly to foreign exchange earnings.
The piece also says the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sharply increased Pakistan’s dependence on oil flowing through the Red Sea.
At the same time, it warns that direct military involvement against the Houthis could pull the alliance deeper into regional rivalries, affect Islamabad’s position with Tehran, and challenge Pakistan’s stated policy of avoiding camp politics.
The writer says Pakistan’s usefulness may instead lie in using its diplomatic space with both Tehran and Riyadh to encourage dialogue and de-escalation.
Defence cooperation, collective defence and domestic politics
The article says military coordination, defence-industrial cooperation and collective defence are not incompatible, but collective defence would require the most careful thinking about where Pakistan’s obligations to the other two countries begin and end.
It recalls that in 2015 Pakistan’s parliament played an important role in the decision not to commit Pakistani troops to the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
It adds that even though Pakistan’s democratic institutions have arguably eroded over the past decade, major commitments abroad still require political dialogue and consensus at home, given the country’s demographic diversity and the domestic impact of external security choices.
Home-front pressures remain a major constraint
The article says Pakistan’s expanding strategic horizons cannot be separated from pressures at home. It describes the country as facing terrorism, political instability and persistent economic fragility.
It says this year has been among Pakistan’s deadliest for terrorism in recent memory, while fraught governance challenges in KP and Balochistan add to the insecurity.
The piece warns that expanding commitments abroad without improved governance and a domestic reset could weaken the foundations on which any new regional influence must rest.
It concludes that the Makkah arrangement offers Pakistan a rare opportunity to extract strategic value from its military capacity, expand defence-industrial cooperation with partners and potentially become a consequential voice in any future security architecture. But it says that will require navigating regional fault lines and building a better political compact at home.
