While the agreement offers no NATO-style collective defence, the military capabilities of its members — especially Turkey — warrant close attention

On August 7, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, declaring that an attack on any one of the three would be treated as an attack on all. Coming after nearly a year of negotiation, and building on the bilateral Saudi-Pakistan defence pact signed in Riyadh last September, the accord instantly drew comparisons to NATO’s Article 5. Predictable label — “Islamic NATO” — followed within hours.

The comparison is tempting but loose. Unlike NATO, the Mecca pact creates no integrated command, no standing joint forces, no automatic........

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