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IN the midst of a gruelling war between the US and Iran — currently at a stalemate — the signing of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday is a highly symbolic development.
It comes at a time when the American defence umbrella has proved of little help in protecting Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states. Rather, the presence of US military assets in these states has pulled them into the war, as the Iranians and their regional armed allies target these facilities.
Seen in this context, many questions swirl around the new defence agreement, specifically the fact that it considers an attack against one signatory to be an attack against all.
The prime minister, the Saudi crown prince and the Turkish president were all upbeat about the new pact. PM Shehbaz Sharif termed it “historic”, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it is open to “friendly nations”.
