Why Is Pakistan Deploying Troops To Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Ambassador Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki met with Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa at Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Thursday. (ISPR)

Business Reuters: Pakistan is sending troops to Saudi Arabia and it's unclear what their role is

* Pakistan is sending troops to ally Saudi Arabia on a "training and advise mission."
* There are already about 750-800 Pakistani servicemen in Saudi Arabia, but they are not combat troops.
* Pakistan decided against sending soldiers to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan is sending troops to ally Saudi Arabia on a "training and advise mission", the military said, three years after it decided against sending soldiers to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.

The exact role the troops will play was unclear, but a statement from the army's press wing on Thursday stressed they "will not be employed outside" the kingdom.

Pakistan's retired army chief, General Raheel Sharif, commands the new Saudi-led Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism, though it was not immediately clear whether the new troops would participate in that coalition.

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Update #1: Pakistan To Send Troops To Saudi Arabia (RFE)
Update #2: In major policy shift, Pakistan to deploy troops in Saudi Arabia (India TV)

WNU Editor: Many are wondering on why the deployment .... Why Pakistan is sending troops to Saudi Arabia (Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner). Is it because of Iran? .... Pakistan Army Now Officially Deployed to Saudi Arabia to Counter Iran? (Eurasian Times).

Pakistan To Deploy A Brigade of Combat Troops To Saudi Arabia's Southern Border With yemen

Pakistan's chief of army staff, Qamar Javed Bajwa, met Saudi Arabia's king in December (Twitter)

The National: Pakistan in talks with Saudi Arabia to send combat troops to protect the kingdom

Pakistan is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to send combat troops to protect the kingdom amid growing concern over threats from ISIL militants and Houthi rebels.

Plans are under way to dispatch a brigade-sized deployment following a request from Riyadh, which wants the troops as an emergency response force. A brigade is usually made up of between 1,500 and 3,500 troops.

Islamabad and Saudi Arabia have long had a close military and security relationship, with troops from Pakistan's large and combat-hardened army regularly deployed for training Saudi soldiers. Although the kingdom, like other Arab Gulf countries, does not make the numbers public, experts say there are as many as 70,000 Pakistanis serving across the Saudi military services at any one time.

But requests for Pakistani combat brigades have usually only been made during times of heightened tensions in the kingdom.

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WNU Editor: This deployment will be a message to Iran .... Pakistan force is a warning to Tehran (The National editorial).

More News On Reports That Pakistan Is To Deploy A Combat Brigade To Saudi Arabia

EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan sends combat troops to southern Saudi border -- Middle East Eye
Pakistan sends combat troops to Saudi southern border to counter Houthis -- Daily Pakistan
Pakistani troops to guard Saudi borders against Houthi attacks -- The Nation
Pakistan to deploy army brigade in Saudi Arabia: Reports -- Hindustan Times
How Pakistan’s military offers the Gulf much more than boots on the ground -- Taimur Khan, The National

Pakistan Will Join The Saudi Military Coalition Against Yemen Rebels

Reuters: Pakistan to join Saudi coalition against Yemen rebels - senior official

(Reuters) - Pakistan will send troops to Saudi Arabia to give military support to a coalition of mainly Gulf states fighting Yemeni Houthi rebels, a senior government official said on Monday.

Largely Sunni Muslim Pakistan - a regional ally of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's main Sunni Muslim power - would join a Saudi-led military coalition conducting air strikes against Shi'ite Houthi forces, the official said.

The air strikes are targeting the rebels' southward advance on the port city of Aden, the last bastion of Saudi-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

WNU Editor: No surprises here. Saudi Arabia has provided billions in aid to Pakistan over the years .... the Paks are not in a position to say no. For Pakistan's minority Shiite population .... I am sure that they are now preparing themselves to launch protests in opposition to these moves.

More News On Pakistan Joining The Saudi Military Coalition Against Yemen Rebels

Pakistan to join Saudi coalition against Houthi: senior official -- Arab News
Pakistan defense team heads for Saudi to discuss support -- Reuters
Pakistan to send troops in Saudi Arabia; Khawaja Asif denies -- Dunya News
Why old ally Pakistan is wary of joining Saudi offensive in Yemen -- France 24
Pakistan's Yemen dilemma: Being neutral is not an option -- Deutsche Welle
How Will Pakistan Respond to the Crisis in Yemen? -- Ankit Panda, The Diplomat

Update: Pakistan’s long history of fighting Saudi Arabia’s wars -- Ishaan Tharoor (Washington Post)

Pakistan Will Not Join Saudi Arabia's Anti-Iran Alliance

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who recently visited Saudi Arabia, appears to be thinking hard as he holds his glasses at the closing session of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Katmandu, Nepal, Nov. 27, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Niranjan Shrestha)

Bruce Riedel, Al-Monitor: Pakistan declines to join Saudi Arabia's anti-Iran alliance

Saudi Arabia's campaign to build a broad Sunni alliance to contain Iran has apparently suffered at least a setback from Pakistan. Islamabad has opted, at least for now, to avoid becoming entangled in the sectarian cold war between Riyadh and Tehran.

Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited to the kingdom for urgent talks with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his advisers. The king met Sharif at the airport to underscore the importance of the talks. The main topic was Iranian aggression in the Arab world and the impending deadline for the P5+1 negotiations on Iran's nuclear project. The king wanted firm assurances from Sharif that Pakistan would align itself with Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies against Iran, especially in the proxy war now underway in Yemen.

WNU Editor: There are also many who are hoping that Pakistan will also not sell and/or share it's nuclear bomb secrets to Saudi Arabia .... Pakistan Will Not Give Saudi Arabia The Bomb (Muhammad Umar, Eurasia Review).

Pakistan Is Denying Reports That They Have A Secret Nuclear Agreement Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is Pakistan’s key economic partner. National Turk

Reports Of Nuclear Cooperation With Saudi Arabia Baseless: Pakistan -- Pakistan Today

Pakistan has declared news of nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia as baseless and devoid of truth.

Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam during the weekly press briefing on Thursday said Pakistan has a declared nuclear weapon and civil nuclear programmes. She said Pakistan’s civilian nuclear programme was under IAEA safeguards and was used for energy‚ medical‚ agriculture and other fields.

Tasnim said Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz al Saud will start a three-day visit to Pakistan from February 15 on the invitation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. She said a Saudi delegation would accompany him. The spokeswoman said both the countries would discuss a wide-range of issues, including trade‚ defence and export of Pakistani manpower to Saudi Arabia.

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Update #1: FO rejects reports of nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia -- Business Recorder
Update #2: Denying Western media reports, Pakistan has said it won’t give nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. --National Turk

My Comment: The Pakistanis and the Saudis can deny all that they want .... but talk of a secret Saudi - Pakistan nuclear agreement has been around for a very long time.

Does Saudi Arabia Have A Secret Agreement With Pakistan For Nuclear Weapons? (Updated)

Tagged for export to Saudi? A military truck transporting the Shaheen II missile during a military parade in Islamabad. Photograph: Aziz Haidari/Reuters

Does Pakistan Have Nuclear Weapons Ready To Ship To Saudi Arabia? -- Julian Borger, The Guardian

A new BBC report says they are packed and ready to go.

It has long been rumoured, and often reported, that in return for bankrolling the Pakistani nuclear weapons project, Saudi Arabia has a claim on some of those weapons in time of need. It has never been proved though, nor has it ever been clear how such a deal would work.

BBC Newsnight had a stab at those questions last night, in a report saying that Saudi Arabia could obtain nukes "at will" from Pakistan. Here are the key paragraphs:

Earlier this year, a senior Nato decision maker told me that he had seen intelligence reporting that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.

Last month Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, "the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring."

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More News On Reports That Saudi Arabia Has A Secret Agreement With Pakistan For Nuclear Weapons

Saudi Arabia ‘can get nuclear weapons from Pakistan’ -- Gulf News
Saudi Arabia can get nuclear weapons from Pakistan at will -- Indian Express
Report: Saudi Arabia investing in nuclear deal with Pakistan -- UPI
Pakistan built nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia: report -- Washington Times
Saudi Arabia has nuclear weapons ‘on order,’ ready to deliver from Pakistan: report -- National Post
Saudi Arabia Has Reportedly Bought Nuclear Weapons from Pakistan -- The Blaze
Pakistan denies report of nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia as ‘baseless’ -- Al Arabiya
Pakistan rejects report about Saudi support for N-plan -- DAWN
Pakistan Spurns Report on Secret Nuclear Understanding with Saudi Arabia -- National Journal/Global Security Newswire

Sasudi Arabia Is Turning To Pakistan To Train Syria’s Rebels

Free Syrian Army fighters (Reuters/Muzaffar Salman)

Saudi Arabia's Shadow War -- David Kenner, Foreign Policy

The Kingdom is turning to Pakistan to train Syria’s rebels. It’s a partnership that once went very wrong in Afghanistan. Will history repeat itself?

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia, having largely abandoned hope that the United States will spearhead international efforts to topple the Assad regime, is embarking on a major new effort to train Syrian rebel forces. And according to three sources with knowledge of the program, Riyadh has enlisted the help of Pakistani instructors to do it.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, along with the CIA, also supported the Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s. That collaboration contains a cautionary note for the current day: The fractured Afghan rebels were unable to govern after the old regime fell, paving the way for chaos and the rise of the Taliban. Some of the insurgents, meanwhile, transformed into al Qaeda and eventually turned their weapons against their former patrons.

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Update: Saudis 'turn to Pakistan to train army for Syria war' -- UPI

My Comment: This is a bad idea .... but it looks the Saudis have already made up their mind that this Syrian rebel army should be trained and deployed.

Is There A Secret Nuclear Weapons Deal Between Pakistan And Saudi Arabia?

Defence publisher Jane’s revealed the existence of Saudi Arabia’s third and undisclosed intermediate-range ballistic missile site, approximately 200 km southwest of Riyadh

Saudi Nuclear Weapons 'On Order' From Pakistan -- Mark Urban, BBC

Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight.

While the kingdom's quest has often been set in the context of countering Iran's atomic programme, it is now possible that the Saudis might be able to deploy such devices more quickly than the Islamic republic.

Earlier this year, a senior Nato decision maker told me that he had seen intelligence reporting that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.

Last month Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, "the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring."

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Update: Saudi Arabia seals nuclear weapons ‘deal’ with Pakistan -- The Times (subscription)

My Comment: If reports that Saudi Arabia helped financed Pakistan's nuclear weapons program are true .... then yes .... it is then not hard to believe there must be an understanding between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that in the event of a crisis .... the Saudis can then have access to these weapons.