The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have maintained a collaborative relationship for decades, which has seen the two countries become increasingly closer on a political, economic, religious-doctrinal and, above all, military level. This closeness was undoubtedly favored by the common adherence to very conservative currents of Sunni Islamism, such as Saudi Wahhabism and Pakistani Deobandism. Today the collaboration between Islamabad and Riyadh has taken a further leap thanks to the signing, on 17 September 2025, of the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA), thanks to which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will also be able to enjoy the protection of the so-called Pakistani “nuclear umbrella”.
The military dimension of the alliance between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has always been one of Pakistan’s strongest supporters ever since the latter’s wars with India began. Bilateral military relations reached their peak during the 1980s when Riyadh coordinated with Islamabad to more effectively support the Afghan mujahideen, engaged in their war of resistance against the Soviet invasion (1979-1989). At the same time, the Pakistanis agreed to deploy a permanent military contingent in Saudi Arabia originally consisting of 20,000 soldiers and now grown to 70,000 to guarantee the security of the kingdom and in particular of the members of the royal house of Saud.
Saudi Arabia also played a leading role, together with the United Arab Emirates, in the financing of Pakistan’s nuclear program, culminating in the Chagai-I and Chagai-II tests, which took place on 28 and 30 May 1998 respectively. Already then several analysts speculated on how the “Pakistani nuclear weapon” could become an “Islamic nuclear weapon”, suggesting that Pakistan could make the decision to extend its nuclear umbrella to other countries in the Islamic world, which actually happened thanks to the recent signing of the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement. On this occasion the two countries declared that “collaboration in the military field covers all issues”.
“Brothers” in the name of Islam
An element that has certainly played a leading role in encouraging a deepening of relations between the two countries has been Sunni Islam, whose most conservative current is at the same time the official religion and state ideology both in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (under the name of Wahhabism) and in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (under the name of Deobandism). Given that the very origin of Pakistan makes explicit reference to Islam (Pakistan in fact means “Country of the Pure”, implied, Muslims) it was predictable that Saudi Arabia would try to leverage this aspect to extend its influence over the vast country of the Indian subcontinent.
Particularly active in the promotion of Islamic values within Pakistani society was the third king of Saudi Arabia, Fayṣal ibn Abd al-Azīz Āl Saʿūd, who inaugurated generous plans for assistance to the poor as well as the construction of thousands of madrassas (religious schools) to promote the Islamization of the country. Such was the impact of his work that, in 1979, four years after his death, the Pakistani government decided to rename the important city of Lyallpur with the name of Faisalabad. However, Saudi Arabia’s “Islamic approach” to Pakistani affairs has proven to be a double-edged sword over time, because it has favored the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in its most extremist and dangerous form in large segments of the population of the “Country of the Pure”, so much so that today various local Islamic terrorist organizations constitute one of the main threats to the security and stability of the State.
A new geopolitical balance in the Middle East and beyond?
We can say without a shadow of a doubt that the one between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia constitutes one partnerships privileged, capable of shifting the geopolitical balance in the Middle East and beyond. In fact, although Saudi Arabia does not have either the demographic strength or the military efficiency (with the only exception being the air force) capable of managing a policy of geopolitical power and influence on its own, thanks to its considerable economic-financial power supported by hydrocarbon reserves it can “enlist” Pakistan in this sense which, by providing its undisputed military power as a pledge, would obtain in exchange the financial resources necessary for its own economic stabilization.
In addition to the Middle East, the spread of joint Pakistani-Saudi influence would also affect the Indian subcontinent, partly ex-Soviet Central Asia and even more distant areas such as Western Europe, where Muslim communities have long had to deal with the infiltrations of Pakistani secret services (primarily the ISI) and Saudi capital of often opaque origin. In a general framework which, despite several setbacks and some disagreements, has seen a strengthening of the partnerships strategic Pakistani-Saudi strategy, the signing of the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement represents only a formal act on a path that is already well established.
