By Junaid S Ahmad
The Saudi–Pakistan defense pact has been marketed as a bold new step toward regional security, but in reality, it is neither about defense nor solidarity. It is a political bargain designed to shield monarchs and generals, give Washington and Tel Aviv an Islamic cover for their projects, and discipline societies across West Asia and South Asia that might imagine an alternative order.
The agreement arrives at a time when Palestinians are being pressured into accepting Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s so-called “peace plan,” a blueprint for the ongoing annihilation of Palestine. Rather than challenging this order, Riyadh and Islamabad have aligned themselves with it. The pact is not protection from injustice but complicity in it.
Five Explanations for the Pact
Analysts have offered five main explanations, each pointing less to genuine security needs than to the anxieties of ruling elites.
- Projection of Strength
Saudi Arabia lacks a battle-hardened army. By associating with Pakistan’s military, Riyadh borrows the aura of deterrence, even the shadow of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. This show of force, however, is not directed at Israel—whom Saudi rulers have no intention of confronting—but at Iran and the wider Arab public, where anger over Gaza continues to simmer.
- Return to Cold War Patronage
During the Cold War, Pakistani generals became Gulf mercenaries, suppressing dissent in return for petrodollars with Washington’s blessing. That template has been revived. Today, Pakistani officers once again secure Gulf palaces, while preparing Muslim societies for normalization with Israel. Public denunciations of Tel Aviv remain, but behind closed doors, the groundwork for acceptance of apartheid as permanent is quietly laid.
- Flirtation with Beijing
Some argue the pact signals triangulation with China, leveraging Pakistan’s ties to Beijing. Yet Saudi Arabia remains tightly bound to American protection. Beijing may buy oil or sell weapons, but it cannot guarantee monarchical survival. The spectacle of a Saudi–Pakistani–Chinese axis is staged not to chart independence but to extract better terms from Washington without risking estrangement.
- Reaction to Israeli Maneuvers
Others see Israeli strikes in the region as the trigger. Yet Gulf monarchies are not threatened by Israel; they are its silent partners. Israel’s quick apology to Doha after an incident in Qatar illustrates the reality: the Zionist state knows that its true allies are the very rulers who recite platitudes about Palestine.
- Warning Shot at India
Perhaps the most significant interpretation is that Washington views the pact as leverage over New Delhi. As India, under its ‘Hindutva democracy,’ flirts with multipolar platforms like BRICS and the SCO, and seems to be pursuing an entente with Beijing, the U.S. establishment grows uneasy. By bolstering Saudi–Pakistani military cooperation, Washington reminds India of Pakistan’s role as a pressure valve that can be reopened if New Delhi strays from the American fold. Despite Israel and India’s growing partnership—rooted in surveillance technologies, arms sales, and Islamophobia—the pact remains a subtle warning: discipline will follow deviation.
Together, these explanations reveal that the pact is an instrument of elite survival, not regional security.
Theater of Outrage
Nowhere is this duplicity clearer than at the United Nations. Pakistani leaders deliver thunderous speeches condemning Israeli crimes, echoing Imran Khan’s earlier fiery addresses. Yet within hours, they court American officials behind closed doors. Such theatrics are not designed to resist empire but to placate domestic audiences while ensuring continued patronage.
Arab and Muslim leaders have perfected this playbook: lament Palestine before cameras, collude with Tel Aviv in private. By contrast, when Latin American leaders such as Colombia’s Gustavo Petro take actual stands, they face real reprisals. In West Asia, rhetorical outrage costs nothing precisely because it is never meant to be acted upon.
Pakistan’s Mercenary Role
Pakistan’s military establishment has long operated as hired muscle for Gulf monarchies. From General Zia ul Haq’s crushing of Palestinian fighters during Jordan’s Black September to embedding officers in Gulf security structures, the military has consistently prioritized foreign rents over national interest.
In 2015, Pakistan’s parliament briefly resisted Saudi pressure to join the Yemen war. Riyadh retaliated with threats of oil cutoffs and worker expulsions. Pakistani generals, however, privately reassured the monarchy of loyalty. The pattern was clear: soldiers may avoid Yemen’s quagmire, but they remain committed to defending royal thrones. For them, this has never been about Muslim solidarity—it has always been about patronage.
Double Games with Iran and Israel
Publicly, Pakistan condemns Israel’s aggression against Iran and proclaims Muslim unity. Privately, Mossad networks have found footholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan, undermining Tehran. These contradictions are not accidents; they are features of a system that allows generals to posture as defenders of Islam while quietly subcontracting to empire.
Normalization by Stealth
The pact’s most consequential purpose is to facilitate normalization with Israel. Saudi Arabia is inching toward it, but Pakistan—with its population size and status as a “nuclear Islamic power”—represents a greater prize for Washington and Tel Aviv.
In recent years, Pakistani media began debating recognition of Israel. Anchors who supported normalization were elevated; opponents were ridiculed. This was no organic shift but a psychological operation orchestrated by the military establishment to acclimate elites to the idea that recognition is inevitable.
Imran Khan, however, stood firmly against normalization, aligning with the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis who view it as betrayal. His stance, along with his tilt toward China and Russia and resistance to U.S. diktats, made him intolerable to Washington. The result was the 2022 regime change operation, in which the Pakistani military—with American blessing—toppled his government. Khan’s ouster exposed the mechanics of hegemony: leaders who deviate are disciplined, while compliant elites are rewarded. The Saudi–Pakistan pact is one such reward.
Gaza and the “Peace Plan”
The Gaza massacres remain central to the backdrop of this pact. Palestinians are being forced into accepting the Trump–Netanyahu “peace plan.” Far from peace, this plan entrenches colonization and ethnic cleansing, guaranteeing more cycles of mass slaughter.
Riyadh and Islamabad may thunder against Israel in speeches, but their actions signal acquiescence. By endorsing the pact, they provide Washington and Tel Aviv with the fig leaf of Muslim legitimacy for a project that condemns Palestinians to permanent bondage.
The Real Stakes
The Saudi–Pakistan pact is not about defense diversification or collective security. It is a transaction: Gulf monarchs purchase mercenaries, Pakistani generals collect rents, and Washington secures Muslim endorsement for a regional order of apartheid and conquest.
The victims are numerous. Palestinians endure dispossession. Yemenis remain under bombs and blockades. Iranians face espionage and encirclement. Ordinary Pakistanis suffer economic collapse while their generals enrich themselves. The pact stabilizes ruling elites while destabilizing societies.
Toward an Alternative
This bleak reality is not inevitable. There is no law dictating that Pakistani generals must protect Gulf palaces or that Saudi rulers must normalize with Israel. These are political choices, made to preserve thrones and privileges.
A genuine alternative does not lie in another military bloc—a “Muslim NATO” or “Eastern NATO.” It lies in demilitarization, redistribution, and solidarity. It requires building institutions to protect the vulnerable rather than palaces, and normalizing justice rather than apartheid. Such a transformation cannot come from monarchs or generals; their survival depends on empire. It must come from below—workers, students, women, and the dispossessed—who continue to chant for Palestine and resist betrayal.
Complicity in Robes and Khaki
The Saudi–Pakistan pact dresses itself in the language of unity, but its fabric is stitched with complicity. It secures thrones and bank accounts, not people’s rights. For Palestinians offered only an obscene “peace plan,” for Yemenis starved, for Pakistanis crushed by their own generals, it offers nothing but more suffering.
Riyadh and Rawalpindi are not merely subcontractors for empire; they are instruments in a wider playbook designed to discipline societies—Arab, Persian, or South Asian—that dare imagine an alternative order.
If a genuine pact is to exist, it must be one among peoples: to resist empire, reject normalization with Zionism, refuse regime change, and build a regional order grounded in justice. Anything less is theater. And outside that theater, the bleeding continues.
Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad teaches Law, Religion, and Global Politics and is the Director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decolonization (CSID), Islamabad, Pakistan. He is a member of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST – https://just-international.org/), Movement for Liberation from Nakba (MLN – https://nakbaliberation.com/), and Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE – https://www.theshapeproject.com/).
2 October 2025