By Sardar Khan Niazi

At one level, cooperation among Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia is hardly new. Bilateral military ties already exist across all three axes: Pakistan and Turkey have a long history of defense collaboration; Islamabad and Riyadh share deep military and security links; and Ankara and Riyadh, despite political fluctuations, are rediscovering pragmatic engagement. What is new is the idea of institutionalizing this relationship into a trilateral framework, signaling a more coordinated strategic vision. For Pakistan, the motivations are clear. The country faces a complex security environment marked by internal instability, a volatile western border, and an increasingly asymmetric regional balance in South Asia. At the same time, Islamabad seeks to reduce overreliance on any single external partner while maintaining strategic autonomy. A trilateral defense arrangement offers Pakistan access to diversified military technology, training opportunities, and diplomatic advantage — without directly aligning it with a major power bloc. Turkey brings a different but complementary set of strengths to the table. Over the past decade, Ankara has emerged as a serious defense manufacturer, particularly in drones, naval platforms, and electronic warfare. Its defense industry has demonstrated that middle powers can achieve strategic self-reliance through focused investment and export-oriented production. Pakistan’s interest in Turkish defense cooperation is therefore as much about technology transfer and joint production as it is about procurement. Saudi Arabia’s participation reflects its own recalibration. Under Vision 2030, Riyadh aims to localize defense production and reduce dependence on Western suppliers. Collaborating with countries that combine operational experience with cost-effective military solutions makes strategic sense. Pakistan’s professional armed forces and Turkey’s defense-industrial base together offer Saudi Arabia an alternative pathway to achieving these goals. Yet the significance of such a trilateral arrangement extends beyond defense hardware. Symbolically, it suggests........

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