Open Search form

Pakistan

Apply for a Blog

Aug 16, 2026, 6:02 PM

The Mecca Pact and India’s Third Front

Conceptual illustration: Three interlocking metallic arches looming over the Indian subcontinent symbolize the new trilateral defense compact between Pakistan, Türkiye, and Saudi Arabia, reflecting the emergence of a strategic 'third front' and the shifting geopolitical realities on New Delhi's western flank. Image: AI-generated (free for commercial use).

A new defense compact linking Pakistan, Türkiye, and Saudi Arabia may never place another army on India’s border. Its real power lies in the weapons, intelligence, and diplomatic pressure it could bring to Pakistan’s side during the next crisis. Twenty-four...

Shaike Komornik

Aug 14, 2026, 6:48 PM

The Mecca Pact: Should Israel be worried?

AI collage

Over the past weekend, a dramatic diplomatic ceremony unfolded at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif signed the "Mecca Joint Defense Agreement", a trilateral...

Sheldon Kirshner

Aug 14, 2026, 6:46 PM

A New Mideast Alliance

On August 8, a day after Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan announced the formation of a joint defence pact, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif spoke bluntly. Claiming that Israel is an "illegitimate state" and a "threat to the entire...

Aug 14, 2026, 5:48 PM

The Great Mistake of 1947?

When the Community of Nations Makes a Bad Decision I am not going to describe the background in great detail, because you already know the basic story. In 1947, a country was carved out of the British Empire to establish...

Aug 13, 2026, 11:40 PM

Pakistan, the first two state solution…and its failure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India#/media/File:Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg

While most of the world insists that the only solution possible in the Middle East is the two-state solution, we are at an anniversary where, almost 80 years ago, the two-state solution was implemented in another part of the...

Joseph P. Rhinewine

Aug 10, 2026, 6:30 PM

A Genocidal Threat From Pakistan

Pakistan’s defense minister has made a most incendiary, genocidal, and reckless statement. Khawaja Asif declared Israel an illegitimate state and “a threat to the entire Muslim world.” He called upon Muslim countries to form “a united military front” against it. He...

Aug 9, 2026, 3:26 PM

Northern Afghanistan Poses Some Challenges for Taliban

Manish Rai-Panjshir, North Afghanistan

Attacks across Badakhshan are puncturing the Taliban’s aura of invincibility, even if the armed resistance remains far from threatening its rule nationwide. Badakhshan, Afghanistan’s vast and mountainous northeastern province, was a center of resistance to Taliban rule during the 1990s....

Sergio Restelli

Aug 9, 2026, 6:52 AM

Pakistan Wants to Turn the Mecca Pact Into an Islamic anti-Israel NATO

Barely hours after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed their new mutual defence agreement in Mecca, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif gave the emerging alliance something its official text had carefully avoided: an enemy. Israel (and India). Asif called for Muslim...

Aug 8, 2026, 5:49 PM

Mecca Pact Implications for Israel and Washington

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Rise of Strategic Autonomy The signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, 2026, by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan marks an important development in the changing security order of the Middle...

Aug 7, 2026, 8:02 PM

The Turkey–Saudi Arabia–Pakistan Mutual Defense Pact

The Unraveling of US Regional Primacy The announcement that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact marks a watershed moment in Middle Eastern security politics. For the first time, the three largest Muslim-majority powers—each with distinct...

Load more