Pak sleepwalked into Middle East maze, and 400 Afghans just paid for it
India Today
After Pakistan signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia, it was obligated to help Riyadh amid Iranian drone and missile strikes in the Middle East. When Saudi Arabia needed military help and assurances, Pakistan carried out intensive bombing in Afghanistan to signal that it was already caught up in a war.
Exactly six months ago, on September 17, 2025, Pakistan signed the Nato-style defence agreement with Saudi Arabia. No person with keen eyes could have missed Iran, the unnamed factor, in the matrix. With the pact, the Rawalpindi-Islamabad hybrid regime sleepwalked into the Middle East maze, and now 400 Afghans at a hospital had to pay the price with their lives.
It was clear from Day One that Riyadh was unlikely to jump into any war that Pakistan waged, but Saudi Arabia had its sights on the Pakistani army — a mercenary force — and its nuclear shield. Saudi Arabia has given billions in loans to cash-strapped Pakistan and, thereby, can dictate the terms.
On September 17, 2025, Pakistan signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia. The exact terms of the deal were never made public, but the broad contours say that an attack on one would be considered an attack on the other. Pakistan, the only Islamic nation with nuclear weapons, would deploy its arsenal for Saudi Arabia if the need arose.
At home, this could have been used to prove a point. Pakistan was assuring its nuclear weapons for a country that is home to Islam's top two holiest sites — Mecca and Medina. However, the security guarantee placed Pakistan in the Middle East matrix. Sunni Saudi Arabia is the archrival of Iran, the bulwark of Shia forces in the region.
"According to sources, Field Marshal Asim Munir has conveyed to MBS [Muhammad Bin Sultan] that as Pak forces are heavily engaged in Afghan sector, it cannot spare resources to send to Saudi Arabia. The same sources also say that MBS has got the hint of Pakistan's clever plans to activate its border with Afghanistan to avoid committing defence resources to it," Francesca Marino, an Italian journalist specialising in South Asia, wrote on X on March 16.
Marino said Saudi Crown Prince MBS had "actually called Asim Munir and Shehzad Sharif two-three times to convey his disappointment in this regard".
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