Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign the Joint Defense Agreement of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 7, 2026. (Credit: Office of the Pakistani Prime Minister/AFP)
In Mecca, after signing a joint defense agreement, Mohammed bin Salman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Shehbaz Sharif prayed together facing the Kaaba. It was a highly symbolic image: three major Muslim powers pledging to take greater responsibility for their own security amid a rapidly shifting regional landscape.Signed on Aug. 7, the agreement stipulates that an attack on any one of the three countries would be considered an attack against all three. Erdogan described it as "collective deterrence," while his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, compared the principle to Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on the entire alliance.Pakistan, for its part, stressed the pact’s "purely defensive" nature, while the signatories left the door open to other states joining. Is it a new Middle...
In Mecca, after signing a joint defense agreement, Mohammed bin Salman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Shehbaz Sharif prayed together facing the Kaaba. It was a highly symbolic image: three major Muslim powers pledging to take greater responsibility for their own security amid a rapidly shifting regional landscape.Signed on Aug. 7, the agreement stipulates that an attack on any one of the three countries would be considered an attack against all three. Erdogan described it as "collective deterrence," while his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, compared the principle to Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on the entire alliance.Pakistan, for its part, stressed the pact’s "purely defensive" nature, while the signatories left the door open to other states joining. Is it a new Middle...
