The Post-American Order Starts in Riyadh and Islamabad
Renewed defense ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan provide a taste of what’s to come as the US retreats from its traditional alliances.
Nobody is happy with this new world order.
Photographer: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
Given the long history of cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, it’s tempting to dismiss their announcement last week of a mutual security pact as mere paperwork, formalizing a relationship that already exists. But it’s much more than that. This is the first concrete indication of what a post-American world might look like — one that is far more insecure, unstable, and unhappy.
The two nations were indeed close for decades. In 1967 — two months after Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War — they signed a security agreement in which Pakistan’s battle-hardened military promised training and support to the Kingdom. Two years later, their pilots flew for Saudi Arabia in its war against communist South Yemen.