On Friday Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a major defense agreement as leaders gathered in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It seeks to strengthen joint deterrence and expanding defense cooperation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
It is essentially a NATO-style agreement for the 'Muslim world' - given that it stipulates and formalizes that an armed attack on any of the countries will be treated as an attack against all of them.
Formally called the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, it "reflects the three nations’ commitment to bolstering their collective security and promoting peace, security and stability in the region and the wider world," SPA reported.
The combined estimated population of these Muslim-majority countries is 380 million people, or according to the high estimates... approaching 400 million.
Al Jazeera comments on the significance of the historic pact as follows:
This is more than a diplomatic get-together and the signing of an agreement.
This essentially puts three of the largest Muslim populations together on the roadmap for joint peace, for deterring any act of aggression against them, for making sure that they are in tune with each other when it comes to intelligence sharing, gathering all of the information that is required, and also enhancing cooperation in all sorts of spheres – whether it’s energy, defence expenditure or manufacturing, among others.
Pakistan
