Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey formalize Mecca Defence Pact secretariat

On Aug. 31, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey established a secretariat in Saudi Arabia for the Mecca Defence Agreement, with a Pakistani secretary-general for a three-year term. The pact, building on the 2025 Saudi-Pakistani mutual defense agreement and expanded by Turkey in August 2026, formalizes a decades-old informal security arrangement into a NATO-style alliance. This marks a significant shift in Pakistan's regional role, aiming to become indispensable to Gulf security, though the pact's operational scope and commitments remain unclear.