THERE is no disputing that the coming together of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye comes at a critical juncture for West Asia, even if several aspects around the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement’s precise operationalisation remain unclear.

There are good reasons for Islamabad to view this as a significant strategic opportunity. The arrangement, forged in the shadow of the US and Israeli war on Iran, responds to a growing imperative for regional stakeholders to exercise greater control in stabilising a region fractured by conflict. It also builds on long-standing relationships between three important middle powers whose security is bound up in regional outcomes. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have decades of military and diplomatic cooperation behind them. Turkiye has important extensive defence ties with both. With US retrenchment from the region increasingly appearing inevitable, institutionalising these relationships offers some much-needed strategic coherence to a region beset by complex challenges.

But for Pakistan to make the most of this moment — and for it to translate the compact into lasting strategic advantage — several caveats deserve consideration.

First, for this ‘non-directional’ arrangement to truly be........

© Dawn