Defense Pact between KSA and Pakistan: Evolution, Challenges, and Prospects

Abstract

On September 17, 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA), which officially created a NATO Article 5-style joint defense arrangement, following almost eight decades of the partnership of the two countries. The paper is built along the historical path of the agreement, its key stipulations, the difficulties in its effective application, and the prospects of the agreement development, which is offered on the basis of the qualitative review of the secondary sources. The results of the article point to the fact that despite the fact that SMDA is a reflection of a real strategic alignment and the development of the two institutions, its efficiency is determined by the realization of mutual defense commitments, addressing of conflicting regional alignments, and elimination of the shortage of capacities. The implications of the pact are far-reaching not only on the security of South Asia and the Middle East, but also on the new multipolar security designs emerging even in the absence of the West. Although the parties involved in the agreement are quite distant, they too have limitations in the form of resources, competing mandate, and domestic politics that do not allow them to take immediate action on the accord. To make the operation successful, a consistent political commitment, the effective institutionalization of the joint defense systems, and an integrated view of the third-party intervention, primarily China, would be able to establish the consistent trilateral frameworks that are capable of addressing the issues in the region.