US role in West Asia could be reduced by Pak-Saudi-Turkiye defence pact: Experts

The trilateral defence pact signed by Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia could significantly reduce the United States' strategic role in West Asia, according to Pakistan-based defence analysts.

Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia signed the joint defence agreement on Friday under which an attack against one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against all, amid growing security concerns and escalating tensions in West Asia.

Defence analyst Abdullah Hameed Gul, son of a former ISI chief, said the agreement emerged against the backdrop of growing doubts in the Gulf over the United States' ability to provide security guarantees to regional allies.

"The US had 27 military bases in the Gulf countries, and 17 of them were destroyed by Iran during the recent US-Iran war. This led people in the region to question whether the Americans could actually protect them. That created the need for such an agreement," Gul said.

With the new pact, America's "role in the region has been minimised -- or is effectively over", he said.

Gul also claimed that Qatar and Kuwait could soon join similar agreements with Pakistan, adding that Gulf countries had realised that Israel, rather than Iran, posed a greater security challenge to them.

Foreign affairs expert Muhammad Mehdi said the agreement had changed perceptions of Pakistan's position in the international arena.

"Pakistan's standing in the world has changed. The world now sees Pakistan as having a major role to play in the Middle East and Central Asia. With Turkiye joining the three-nation arrangement, Pakistan will also be viewed differently in Europe," he said.

Retired Brigadier Farooq Hameed said the provision under which an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all three could act as a "deterrent" against any future conflict involving Pakistan and India.