It’s likely that the Pakistani prime minister and army chief of staff will travel to Riyadh this week and make the requisite political and military commitments.
Whereas its military contribution might have been brigade-strength, had it joined its GCC allies in the first instance, it will now have to make a division-sized commitment, in an effort to reassure them. Feelings have been hurt and trust undermined, but Islamabad’s relationship with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi is very strong. It goes back to the 1960s and has transcended politics. Repeatedly, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have bailed Pakistan out of dangerous crises triggered by geopolitical events and natural disaster.
The relationship will recover so long as Pakistan’s rulers demonstrate their commitment to it. By investing strategically in the Saudi-led coalition, Pakistan has a unique opportunity to build influence with a group of regional powers with global diplomatic reach. Through them, it would stand a far better chance of achieving objectives hitherto not acceptable to the wider international community.
The scope for that investment was described by analyst Theodore Karaskik on these pages. He wrote that the models for the proposed pan-Arab military force assumed a 15 per cent Pakistani component even though they are not Arab.
That is consistent with reports that surfaced during a March 2014 visit to Pakistan by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
At the time, it was suggested that Pakistan would contribute as many as 30,000 military personnel – mostly reservists – to the GCC Peninsula Shield.
Pakistan is right to rethink its Yemen misstep | The National