On September 9, 2025, the Israel Defense Forces sought to assassinate Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar. They missed. Not only the Qatari government reacted with outrage but so did many other Arab and Islamist states.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flew to Doha to express solidarity. Pakistan demanded an emergency United Nations Security Council session to condemn Israel, and Islamabad took part in a subsequent Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha. On the sidelines of that summit, Sharif and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir—the real power inside Pakistan—laid the groundwork for a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
On September 17, 2025, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Sharif signed the agreement, which, according to the official Pakistani statement, states that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
Sharif and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir ... laid the groundwork for a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The treaty not only led to a policy analyst pile-on against Israel and the supposed gravity of its Qatar mistake but also raised talk of the inevitable formation of an “Islamic NATO.” Turkey, for example, hinted it might join the alliance. Bin Salman authorized defense pact talks with Egypt and Somalia. Juan Cole, a professor at the University of Michigan and prolific blogger, argued that Pakistan was a better catch for Saudi Arabia strategically than a deal with Israel.
“Pakistan, a Muslim country of some 250 million, with a military that ranks 12th in the world and that possesses a stockpile of nuclear weapons. In fact, Pakistan ranks above Israel, which comes in at 15 in the Global Firepower Index. Pakistan’s only weakness in a comparison with Israel is its finances,” Cole wrote.
When missiles rained down on Riyadh, however, Pakistan was nowhere to be found. With a 565-mile shared frontier with Iran, Pakistan could immediately respond to Iran’s “aggression against both.” At a minimum, a Pakistan deployment toward the border would force the Islamic Republic to take a more defensive posture. Nor did Pakistan condemn Iran when Iran launched attacks on Qatari energy infrastructure—installations in which the United States had no presence or interest. Instead, as drones and rockets rained down on its supposed allies, Islamabad remained silent.
While war rages in the Persian Gulf, Pakistan has ratcheted up its attacks on Afghanistan. A March 16, 2026, Pakistan airstrike on a hospital near Kabul reportedly killed over 400 civilians; unlike in Gaza, their hospital did not double as a military command post. Pakistan has declared “open war” on Afghanistan.
Such a declaration of war has little justification. Pakistan largely created the Taliban, and the group remained Pakistan’s proxy throughout the U.S. presence. While Islamabad is upset that the Taliban increasingly hews an independent line to protect its view of Afghanistan national interests, this is hardly a casus belli. Rather, it is increasingly clear that Pakistan’s belligerence toward Afghanistan has only one purpose: to give Pakistan authorities an excuse not to uphold and honor its Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia.
By striking his deal with Pakistan, [Bin Salman] believed he could take Saudi Arabia in a new direction, one less dependent on a decades-long U.S. defense partnership.
Put another way, Asim Munir is a coward. He will sponsor terror against unarmed Hindus at tourist resorts like Pahalgam, but he shrieks and plays victim when India fights back, knocking out several Pakistani terror training camps and airfields. Likewise, he will sign agreements, puff his chest out as he accepts new titles, but as soon as it comes time to make good on his commitments, he makes excuses.
Bin Salman is not without responsibility. He was so intent on his own “Axis of Ikhwan” that he believed Munir’s swaggering and self-puffery. By striking his deal with Pakistan, he believed he could take Saudi Arabia in a new direction, one less dependent on a decades-long U.S. defense partnership.
The United Arab Emirates has shut Iranians institutions and soon may send Iranians home. Qatar, too, is reportedly expelling Iranian diplomats. Saudi Arabia may never have opened its doors to so many Iranian expatriates, but Riyadh should express its displeasure toward Sharif and Munir’s lies by sending all Pakistani residents and workers home. After all, if Pakistan faces such a threat with Afghanistan that it cannot make good on its commitments, then it surely merits Pakistanis return to help their homeland.
Indian workers can easily fill the gap. Now and in the future, they represent a far more secure and stable workforce. And, if Pakistan’s government fears that it could lose more than $3 billion per month in remittances from its citizens working in Saudi Arabia, then perhaps Sharif and Munir should simply return some of the money they and other senior politicians and general officers have stolen over the years.
Call any defense alliance with Pakistan what it is: an Axis of Cowardice.
