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Many of the transactional features that mark Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia are familiarly strategic and economic. But there also exists a qualitative dimension to what draws together these two Islamic states. This article points to how each country has been able to compensate for the other's resource deficits even when national interests diverge their unique spiritual bonding ensures a strong measure of continuity in their relationship. These ties are nonetheless regularly tested by the difficult choices Saudi Arabia's Iran-centric policies can create for Pakistan.
Pakistanis generally see themselves and their country as part of South Asia. Although born of the British division of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan has also valued its links with other Islamic states, notably those in the northern tier of the Middle East and in the Gulf. Over time, Pakistan's affinities with Middle Eastern issues have deepened and the bonds of religion become stronger. Nuclear-armed Pakistan, the home of the world's second largest Muslim population, commands attention across the region. It also presents itself to neighbors and others as an economically needy and politically volatile country, beset by the forces of extremism.
This article focuses on Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia, unmistakably the most significant of Pakistan's linkages to the wider Islamic world. Saudi Arabia figures promi- nently in Pakistan's unrelenting search for economic benefactors, but no less importantly as the spiritual center of the Islamic faith. The Kingdom influences Pakistan's domestic politics and affects its regional policies, especially those involving Afghanistan. Psycho- logically, at least, Pakistan's links to Saudi Arabia and to other Muslim countries offer an escape from feared Indian hegemony.1 Ties to the Saudi regime also help to buffer the demands on Pakistan that come from extra-regional powers and international institutions.
An appreciation of the Pakistan-Saudi relationship also requires a consideration of how it serves the interests of Saudi Arabia. Since the 1960s, Pakistan's military has contributed to strengthening Gulf security in general and Saudi security in particular. As a non-Arab, but Sunni state, Pakistan differs from other possible defense partners for Saudi Arabia - such as Egypt or Iraq - in that it poses no danger of challenging the Kingdom as a regional rival.2 Useful as a close ally for Saudi ambitions to achieve regional hegemony,...