ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: For much of the past year, Pakistan has played a dual role as Riyadh's defence partner and Washington's backchannel to Tehran but this week's fighting between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement and Saudi forces is increasingly testing how long Islamabad can hold both positions at once.
The fighting represents the first major test of the mutual defence alliance that was signed between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey last month, adding to a pre-existing pact between Islamabad and Riyadh. Under the arrangement, an armed attack on any one of the three countries is to be regarded as an attack on all.
