Commentary: A new ‘NATO of the East’? Why the Mecca pact isn’t quite what it seems

The agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan is an experiment in regional self-reliance, says this professor.

What has grabbed eyeballs about Mecca pact of Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia is its promise: armed attack on one will be treated as an attack against all.

THE Mecca pact between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — which Egypt is now being wooed to join — is a sign that for all Donald Trump’s bluster, the decline of US power continues. Indeed, he is accelerating it, at least in the Middle East (the continuing advance of far-right politics in Latin America suggests a diffe

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed the Mecca Joint Defence Pact, a new collective defence arrangement that connects the Middle East with South Asia. Its central promise is striking: an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against them all. This language has prompte

Former UAE presidential aide's post mocking Pakistan exposes unease over Mecca pact MEE staff on Sun, 08/16/2026 - 06:02 Remarks by the political analyst on Pakistan's poverty, illiteracy and nuclear arsenal have sparked online backlash Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown P

BEHIND THE LINES: Anti-Israel statements of the emergent alliance between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan are not just rhetoric. Rather, they form an integral element in its strategy.

Russia is confounding expectations that its influence in the Middle East would drastically decline after the downfall of Syria’s Assad regime in 2024. At the time, Moscow operated about 100 military facilities in the war-torn country, following its intervention in the Syrian civil conflict from 2015 to prop up then pre

Analysis • Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan bloc may bring Iran closer to a diplomatic deal  Haaretz

The pact says an armed ⁠⁠attack on any one of the ⁠⁠three countries would be ⁠⁠regarded as an ⁠⁠attack against them all.

PM Shehbaz briefs President Zardari on Pak-Saudi-Turkiye defence pact  dawn.com

The trilateral deal signed last week stipulates that an attack on any of the three states will be treated as an attack on all.