ISTANBUL (Dispatches) -- 
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan convened in Istanbul on Monday for the inaugural meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee established under the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, formally activating a trilateral military alliance that has raised more questions than answers among regional analysts.
The agreement, signed earlier this month in Makkah, establishes that an armed attack against any one of the three signatories will be considered an attack against all three. 
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed that the collective-defense provision is technically similar to NATO’s Article 5, while insisting the agreement is not directed against any specific country. 
Yet observers have been left wondering: if the pact is purely defensive, whom exactly are these three nations preparing to defend themselves against?
Monday’s high-level meeting brought together the foreign and defense ministers and military chiefs of the three nations. 
Saudi Arabia’s delegation was led by Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Turkey by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Pakistan by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. 
The committee’s agenda focused on international security issues, strengthening defense capabilities, improving interoperability, and expanding joint defense industry cooperation.
Critics have questioned the strategic logic behind the Makkah agreement, pointing to the absence of a clearly defined common threat that would justify a collective-defense commitment of this magnitude.
The three nations share neither contiguous borders nor a unified security architecture, raising practical questions about how such a pact would function in a real crisis. 
Would Saudi Arabia commit troops to defend Pakistan against India? Would Pakistan intervene militarily in a Persian Gulf conflict? 
These unanswered questions suggest the agreement may be more symbolic than operational—a geopolitical gesture rather than a genuine defense framework.
The pact’s timing has also drawn scrutiny. With Saudi Arabia and Turkey having spent years on opposing sides of regional conflicts—from Libya to Syria to Qatar—the sudden embrace of a mutual defense treaty appears more like a tactical realignment than a strategic convergence. 
Skeptics note that the agreement paper over deep policy differences that could render the collective-defense clause unenforceable when tested.
Furthermore, the involvement of Pakistan—a nation already overstretched by internal security challenges and its own volatile border with India—raises concerns that the pact could dilute Islamabad’s focus on its core national security priorities. 
Critics warn that binding Pakistan to West Asian security commitments could complicate its foreign policy and entangle it in conflicts that do not serve its national interests.