Jul 24, 2026 16:28 pm IST

Opinion | 11 Years Later, Houthis Have Returned To Finish Unfinished Business With Pakistan

Pakistan has been here before, and the last time, it barely escaped.

Aditi Bhaduri Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Pakistan may soon find out that its mediation efforts in the Iran-US war have hidden costs attached to it and that its worst nightmare yet may be unfolding. As the Houthis finally join the war, Pakistan may face the spectre of having to step in militarily - a possibility it had tried to escape till now, successfully.

To put things in perspective, we need to go back in time to March-April 2015. Intense discussions were on in the Pakistani Parliament on whether to join the war in Yemen against the Ansarallah Houthi militias. The Saudis had put together an Arab coalition to wage war against the Houthis as they overran the capital Sanaa, threatening the internationally recognised government of President Abdur Hadi Mansour. In what was a rare occasion, the Saudis, feeling directly threatened by the Houthis, who were backed, armed, and funded by Iran, began bombing the rebels. However, they also demanded that their client state, Pakistan, join the war.

A Decades-Old Relationship

This, of course, was not unusual. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan's long defence and economic ties are well-known. Their military cooperation, which began way back in the 1960s, has seen them operate in the same theatre of war earlier - in 1969, when in a joint air operation they had repelled a South Yemeni incursion into Saudi Arabia's southern border. In the 1970s and the 1980s, up to 15,000 Pakistani troops were stationed in the kingdom. During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, Pakistan sent troops to protect the Kingdom. It is widely believed that the two countries also have a nuclear understanding whereby Pakistan provides a nuclear cover for the Kingdom.

Initially, Pakistan was ambivalent. But soon, the Nawaz Sharif government announced its decision to join the war, albeit with widespread opposition. While Nawaz Sharif was beholden to the Saudi royal family - when his second term as Prime Minister ended after a military coup in 1999, he went into exile in Saudi Arabia - many Pakistanis protested........

© NDTV