Saudi-Pakistan Military Alliance Deepens: How Proxy Wars and Oil Dependence Reshape Global Power Dynamics
Original framing: “Pakistan providing ‘whatever support needed’ to defend Saudi Arabia: Army” — The Hindu
This alliance builds on a long history of Pakistan’s military serving as a proxy force in regional conflicts, dating back to its role in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War and its participation in the Iraq War under the U.S. ‘War on Terror.’ The current alignment with Saudi Arabia mirrors Pakistan’s Cold War-era balancing act between the U.S. and USSR, where military cooperation was a tool for securing aid and legitimacy. Additionally, the Saudi-Pakistan relationship has roots in the 1960s, when Saudi Arabia began funding Pakistan’s military to counter Iranian influence—a dynamic that persists today. The framing also ignores how Pakistan’s military has historically used external conflicts to consolidate domestic power, as seen in the 1971 Bangladesh War or the Kargil conflict with India, where military adventures were used to distract from internal crises.
The Saudi-Pakistan military alliance is not merely a bilateral agreement but a symptom of deeper systemic failures: the collapse of post-colonial state structures, the commodification of security through arms deals, and the abandonment of the Global South by Western powers.
Pakistan’s military, historically a tool of domestic consolidation and external proxy warfare, now finds itself in a vicious cycle where its survival depends on enabling conflicts it cannot control—such as Yemen’s humanitarian crisis or Balochistan’s insurgency. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s alliance is less about ideological solidarity and more about securing a client state in a region where U.S. influence is waning, while both nations ignore the climate and economic crises that threaten their long-term stability. The trickster dynamic here is undeniable: Pakistan’s military plays the role of Hermes, navigating a labyrinth of external powers while leaving chaos in its wake, all under the guise of ‘defense.’ To break this cycle, solutions must address the root causes—economic desperation, authoritarianism, and ecological collapse—through decolonized security models that prioritize human rights, climate resilience, and regional cooperation over militarized posturing. The path forward lies not in deeper alliances but in dismantling the very structures that make such pacts necessary.