For Saudi Arabia, the surprise mutual defense pact signed last week with Pakistan during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh is a double deterrence tool. The Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) “states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”, and “aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that Islamabad has “complete evidence” of close ties between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “There is a close relationship between the TTP and the TTA. You say there is no link, but we have complete evidence,” Sharif told a meeting of religious scholars. “All kinds of facilities are […]

Visiting Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir meets with Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Maged Saqar and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Khalifa Fatehi Pakistan and Egypt on Thursday discussed bilateral defense cooperation and regional security, said an official statement. Visiting Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir met with Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Maged Saqar and […]

Both want to “save face” after Israel’s attack on Qatar and remind fellow Muslims about the importance of more intra-Ummah military-technical cooperation, not set the stage for an Israeli-Pakistani nuclear standoff or Saudi Arabia imposing an oil embargo on India like some suspect. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan just signed a “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” (SMDA). According to their joint statement, […]

Islamic Nato in the making? Turkey is seeking to join a defence alliance between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, this can be seen as an effort in direction to reshape security alignments in the Middle East region and beyond, as Bloomberg reported.The pact, initially signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September, reportedly states that “any aggression” against one member […]

Pakistan’s federal minister for parliamentary affairs has said the Taliban have not denied that militant groups operate from Afghanistan’s territory against Pakistan, but have instead claimed they lack full control over the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said talks with the Taliban in Doha and Istanbul showed that Taliban officials acknowledged the presence of militant activity, while disputing […]

A Taliban-appointed diplomat has arrived in India and is expected to take charge of Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi, Indian media reported, marking the first such move since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and signalling a further warming of their ties with India. Indian media said Noor Ahmad Noor, a senior official at the Taliban foreign ministry, arrived […]

Turkey’s intelligence service has detained a senior member of Islamic State in a region near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkish media reported. Broadcaster TRT and other Turkish outlets identified the detainee as Mohammad Goren, also known by the alias Yahya, describing him as a prominent figure within the militant group. According to the reports, Goren had previously travelled […]

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has confirmed that security talks with the Taliban were held in Saudi Arabia, but added that the discussions have yet to produce tangible results. Speaking at a year-end news conference, Dar said the Saudi-hosted talks were similar to earlier rounds held in Qatar and Turkey and had failed to ease tensions or lead to a […]

If you want to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups and promote peace and coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, Pakistan is the wrong choice. Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel, has already made it clear that it is “not ready” to disarm Hamas. According to Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar: “If the purpose of deploying […]