24 December 2020
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan Untying the Knot?
The recent visit by the Indian chief-of-staff to Saudi Arabia has marked not only a major step in the countries’ military dialogue — but more so, it has sent a strong signal to nearby Pakistan: Riyadh’s politics bear undeniable signs of increasingly becoming a balancing act between India and Pakistan. The meeting marked another milestone in increasingly tense relations between the Middle East economic superpower Saudi Arabia and its nuclear-equipped — but financially inferior — ally Pakistan. “The Pakistani-Saudi relations have certainly been complex all along but since 2015, when the Pakistani parliament banned the Pakistani military from participating in the war in Yemen, their relations with Saudi Arabia haven’t become any easier,” Dr James M. Dorsey,a Senior Fellow at the RSIS and the Middle East Institute in Singapore and author of the acclaimed political blog ‘The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer’, tells DW.
RSIS / Online