Pakistan defense minister says ‘door not closed’ for more Arab states to join Saudi pact

Pakistan’s defense minister said Thursday that the door remains open for other Arab and Muslim countries to join the newly signed mutual defense pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

“I don’t want to give an answer to that question prematurely, but the doors are not closed. That I can say for sure,” Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told television host Shahzeb Khanzada on Pakistan’s Geo News.

“I had previously said that a NATO-type arrangement should be in place, and it is also our right, especially for the Muslim population in the region,” he said.

Asif stressed that the pact signed Wednesday in Riyadh between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is strictly defensive.

“In the recent Saudi-Pakistan defense pact there is no clause that any other member cannot be part of it. Or that Pakistan cannot make a deal with anyone. But it will always be a defense mechanism,” he said.

Asked whether the pact obliges Pakistan to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella, Asif said Pakistan’s armed forces — tested in conflicts with neighboring India — would be available under the agreement, but that Islamabad remained a responsible nuclear power.

“We have armed forces which are battle-hardened. They have been tested,” he said. “Our capabilities will be absolutely available under this pact. But Pakistan has always been a responsible nuclear power.”

The Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement commits both countries to view any attack on one as an attack on both.

It comes at a time when Gulf Arab states are increasingly questioning the reliability of the United States as a security guarantor, especially after Israel’s recent airstrikes on Qatar, which killed Hamas members engaged in ceasefire talks.

Pakistani state television broadcast images of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman embracing after signing the pact, with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, also present.

India has reacted cautiously to the agreement, with its Ministry of External Affairs saying Thursday that New Delhi would study its implications for regional stability and India’s national security.