Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – welcomed with Saudi F-15 fighter jets, a red carpet, and full royal protocol – joined Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday to sign a strategic mutual defence agreement (SMDA).
Observers described it as a landmark moment in the decades-old alliance between the two nations, whose ties stretch back nearly eight decades, reports Al Jazeera.
The agreement was signed at the Royal Court in Al-Yamamah Palace, Riyadh, in a ceremony attended by senior Saudi officials, guardians of two of Islam’s holiest sites, as well as representatives from Pakistan—the Muslim world’s sole nuclear-armed state.
The accord comes at a pivotal moment. Regional dynamics have been unsettled by two years of Israeli aggression—ranging from the war in Gaza to cross-border assaults—culminating in last week’s strike on Doha, Qatar’s capital, which shares a border with Saudi Arabia. At the same time, tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated, following a brief but fierce clash in May when both sides exchanged strikes on military bases for four consecutive days, driving South Asia dangerously close to a full-scale war between two nuclear powers.
According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the pact underscores the “shared commitment” of both countries to reinforce security and advance regional stability, while also vowing to “enhance joint deterrence against any form of aggression."
Asfandyar Mir, a senior fellow at the Washington DC-based Stimson Center, called the pact a “watershed” moment.
Mir told Al Jazeera that Pakistan previously maintained mutual defence treaties with the US during the Cold War, but they crumbled by the ’70s. Even with China, despite extensive defence cooperation, Pakistan lacks a formal mutual defence pact.
Muhammad Faisal, a South Asia security researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, said the deal could serve as a template for Pakistan to pursue similar defence cooperation with the UAE and Qatar. “In the immediate term, this agreement will consolidate and formalise multi-prong defence cooperation already underway, and new avenues to expand it via joint trainings, defence production and potential expansion of Pakistani troops contingent in Saudi Arabia will be explored,” he said.
Historic ties and defence cooperation
Saudi Arabia was among the first nations to recognize Pakistan following its independence in August 1947. Four years later, in 1951, the two countries signed a “Treaty of Friendship,” which became the cornerstone of a long-standing partnership spanning strategic, political, military, and economic spheres.
Over subsequent decades, Pakistani troops have been deployed to the kingdom multiple times, while also providing training for Saudi forces both domestically and in Pakistan. Official figures indicate that since 1967, Pakistan has trained over 8,000 Saudi personnel. Their defence collaboration was further formalized in 1982 through an agreement that ensured the “deputation of Pakistan Armed Forces personnel and military training” in Saudi Arabia.
The latest agreement, however, comes amid shifting dynamics in the Middle East. Israel’s war on Gaza and its strikes on neighbouring states have unsettled Gulf capitals, many of which remain reliant on American security assurances—despite Washington’s unwavering alliance with Israel, reports Al Jazeera.
Qatar, which Israel targeted on September 9 for sheltering Hamas leaders, also hosts the forward headquarters of the US Central Command (Centcom). By mid-2025, between 40,000 and 50,000 American troops were stationed across the Middle East, operating from large bases and at least 19 smaller forward posts, including Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh.
Saudi officials said the agreement with Pakistan had been under negotiation for at least a year. Yet, according to Sahar Khan, an independent security analyst based in Washington DC, the pact’s wording is likely to draw concern in the United States.
During its tenure from 2021 to 2025, President Joe Biden’s administration imposed sanctions on seven occasions targeting Pakistani individuals and firms over alleged ballistic missile development. Officials also publicly raised concerns over the range of missiles Pakistan was building, and whether they could carry nuclear weapons as far as the US.
A region on edge
In June, Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran, striking nuclear facilities along with senior civilian and military figures. The assault was joined by American bomber jets, which deployed powerful bunker-buster munitions on Fordow, one of Iran’s principal nuclear sites.
Three months later, Israel carried out an airstrike in a residential Doha district home to embassies, schools, and supermarkets, killing at least five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer. The incident prompted an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic nations, during which Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—decided to activate a joint defense mechanism.
Analyst Faisal argued that the Pakistan-Saudi agreement should be seen through this lens.
He said these developments have intensified Gulf states’ security concerns and eroded trust in the US security umbrella as the ultimate safeguard. In response, countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkiye are emerging as natural security partners.
Khan, however, stressed that despite the timing, “agreements of this nature take months, if not years, to finalize.”
The Indian question
The agreement will also be closely watched in India, Pakistan’s nuclear-armed archrival. Relations between the two countries, already at historic lows, plummeted further in April after the Pahalgam attack, in which gunmen killed 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan, which denied involvement.
Days later, in May, the two countries fought a four-day skirmish, striking each other’s military bases with missiles and drones before a ceasefire on May 10, which US President Donald Trump claimed he brokered.
On Thursday, during a weekly news briefing, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian government was aware of the pact. “We will study the implications of this development for our national security as well as for regional and global stability. The government remains committed to protecting India’s national interests and ensuring comprehensive national security in all domains,” he said.
Faisal said the deal could rebalance Pakistan-Saudi ties, which in recent years had been defined by Saudi financial bailouts of a struggling Pakistani economy, even as Riyadh cultivated closer ties with India. “Pakistan’s relative position has improved,” he said, “and new space has opened for expanding the Pak-Saudi cooperation on both bilateral defence and regional security matters.”
With Pakistan’s economy faltering and reliant on Saudi aid over the last decade, India had steadily deepened its relationship with Riyadh. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his third visit to Saudi Arabia in a decade this April.
Mir said the new pact proves Saudi Arabia still sees value in its relationship with Pakistan. “At precisely the moment when Pakistan is faced with the threat of Indian military action,” he said, “Pakistan has secured a strong collective defence agreement from Saudi Arabia. So, it introduces a lot of complexity to future India-Pakistan dynamics.”
Pakistan’s nuclear shield over Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia has long expressed interest in acquiring nuclear technology for civilian use, to diversify from fossil fuels. In January, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud reiterated Riyadh’s readiness to enrich and sell uranium, a key component of nuclear programmes.
The kingdom has also repeatedly stressed it does not seek nuclear weapons. In his 2024 book War, American journalist Bob Woodward recounted a conversation in which Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told US Senator Lindsey Graham that Riyadh planned to enrich uranium only for energy purposes. When Graham expressed concern about the prospect of a Saudi bomb, Salman replied: “I don’t need uranium to make a bomb. I will just buy one from Pakistan.”
Still, Khan noted uncertainties about the scope of the agreement. “It is important to note that while Pakistan has made defence pacts before, none of those have led to nuclear assurances or a formation of a ‘nuclear umbrella’. There is nothing in this agreement that indicates a formation of a nuclear umbrella or any extended deterrence,” she said.
Mir cautioned that even robust alliances carry risks. “The pact will trigger a new alliance politics around what it does or does not cover, deterrence, resource commitment, operational details, among others,” he said. “But that does not diminish the political significance of this pact being struck. It’s a huge development for both countries.”
Faisal agreed, saying the pact is more political than operational for now. “Nonetheless, the political and defence coordination between the two sides will deepen, while strengthening respective military capabilities of both countries,” he said.
