Its a nuclear power. The alliance gives it regional importance. The new arrangement turns Pakistan from simply being a country that provides military personnel and training to Saudi Arabia into one of the principal pillars of a wider regional security architecture. That gives Pakistan considerably greater diplomatic weight It hedges against Chinese influence. Saudi Arabia doesn't have the people, but it has the money. Turkey has people, but more importantly, a battle proven defence industry. Pakistan has the people. A great proportion of Saudi pilots are Pakistani, and Saudi Arabia turned to Pakistani support, largely because of Pakistan's historic links to the UK. The defence obligations are vague. That vagueness makes it less likely that India would attack Pakistan, which is already pretty unlikely. Operation Sindoor was an operation against alleged terrorist encampments, and studiously avoided strikes on Pakistani military bases. If something resembling Operation Sindoor happened again, the question would be whether Ankara and Riyadh would regard a limited Indian punitive strike as an "armed attack" requiring them to defend Pakistan. That is much less clear than what they would do in response to an outright Indian invasion. That uncertainty will make India take pause. There's also the question of the continued presence of Western military forces in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia; mostly US, but there is significant presence from the British and French. The presence of the British and French is much less politically sensitive than the Americans. The British have been there for over 100 years in one way or other, and there has always been a close association between the British military and Gulf militaries (my late father was part of a British Army team seconded to the Bahraini military in the 1970s, which meant he took Arab rank, Bahraini uniform and answered to a Bahraini CO not British). One of the claimed reasons for the 911 attacks was the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden had always been anti-Western/anti-American, and his view was not a minority one in Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia has always been a super sensitive for non-muslims, because of Mecca (we all know the story of how the explorer Richard Burton sneaked into Mecca). The Gulf States are now openly discussing whether to ask the Americans to leave (the deal was by tolerating their presence, the Gulf states would be more safe. That's proven to be not the case). Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is in place to deter India. The US is now actively helping Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium. Pakistan now has decades of experience in developing and maintaining a nuclear arsenal. Given the already close relationship between the Saudi and Pakistani armed forces, its become more likely that Saudi Arabia will benefit from that institutional knowledge and strategic expertise.
Create an account or sign in to comment