The nearly six-month war with Iran has given US policymakers plenty to think about. Most of those lessons are on the negative side of the ledger. The US, it turns out, has trouble converting tactical military accomplishments into strategic victory. Iran’s defence strategy and military capabilities are far more durable than the Trump administration assumed. And geography can be weaponised to nullify or at least fight back against a superior military adversary.
But the war has also produced a silver lining for the United States: countries in the Middle East which were once content to remain within the American security umbrella are now being more proactive with their own security affairs. The latest example occurred yesterday, when Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the so-called Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. According to statements from the three countries, the agreement “is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all”.
The Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani deal comes on top of a bilateral security arrangement Riyadh signed with Islamabad last September, which laid the groundwork for the deployment of 8,000 Pakistani troops and a squadron of Pakistani fighter jets to the kingdom this spring.
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