Makkah Defence Alliance to Meet in Islamabad in November
Pakistan is expected to host the third meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee of the Makkah Defence Alliance in the last week of November, as the three member countries move to strengthen their security cooperation. The meeting will bring together the foreign and defence ministers as well as the military chiefs of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
The talks are likely to focus on putting the trilateral defence agreement into practice and on the evolving regional security situation. The meeting comes at a sensitive moment, with the possibility of renewed military strikes against Iran still looming even as diplomatic efforts to find a way out of the conflict remain on the table.
Makkah Defence Alliance gathers after Turkiye ratifies pact
The Islamabad meeting will be the first gathering of the committee since the Turkish parliament formally ratified the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on November 5. The move completed a major step towards bringing the trilateral arrangement into effect. Lawmakers in Ankara approved the agreement by 279 votes to 119, after a debate in which government lawmakers maintained that the pact was defensive in nature and was not directed against any third country.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had completed their own ratification processes earlier. Turkiye was awaiting parliamentary approval under its own constitutional requirements. The agreement was signed on August 7 by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and it provides for collective assistance if any member faces an armed attack.
Ratification does not automatically authorise the deployment of Turkish troops abroad. That step would require a separate parliamentary mandate.
From Istanbul to Riyadh: how the committee took shape
The November meeting will be the third session of the committee set up under the agreement to turn the political commitment into practical defence cooperation. The first meeting was held in Istanbul on August 31, bringing together the foreign ministers, defence ministers and military chiefs of the three countries. It agreed to institutionalise cooperation, and it envisaged greater work in the defence industry, joint technology development and production, and measures to strengthen the capabilities and coordination of the three armed forces.
The second meeting was convened on an emergency basis in Riyadh on October 5, after security threats to Saudi Arabia escalated, including attacks attributed to Yemen’s Houthi movement. The committee condemned attacks targeting Saudi cities and civilian and economic infrastructure, including threats to Makkah and Madinah. It agreed to move towards the practical implementation of collective defence, and it appointed retired Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as the alliance’s first secretary general for a three-year term.
The November meeting is expected to take stock of progress on those decisions and consider further steps to strengthen military coordination, intelligence-sharing and defence cooperation.
Why the alliance matters for Pakistan
The agreement brings together Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed Muslim-majority country, Saudi Arabia, a major Gulf power, and Turkiye, a NATO member with the alliance’s second-largest army. All three countries have maintained that the arrangement is defensive and intended to strengthen regional stability rather than target any particular state.
For Islamabad, the challenge will be to advance the collective defence framework while maintaining its diplomatic engagement with Tehran and supporting efforts to prevent another escalation in the wider Middle East. Pakistan has already condemned the recent attack on the Aramco building in Riyadh, and diplomatic efforts are under way to keep the Iran conflict from spreading.
The alliance also sits alongside Pakistan’s wider partnerships. Saudi investors and Pakistani partners recently launched a fund to boost trade and investment, while world powers have been pressing for de-escalation over Iran and Ukraine in Paris. At home, senior voices have urged Pakistan to stay out of the Yemen conflict, a caution that will shape how far Islamabad goes in any collective military step.
What happens next
Officials in Islamabad are preparing for the late-November session, which will test whether the alliance can move from declarations to joint planning. The agenda is expected to cover military coordination, intelligence-sharing and defence industry cooperation. The Express Tribune reported the planned Islamabad meeting.
Frequently asked questions
When will the Makkah Defence Alliance meet in Islamabad?
Pakistan is expected to host the third meeting of its Strategic Political and Defence Committee in the last week of November 2026.
Who will attend the meeting?
The foreign and defence ministers and the military chiefs of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are expected to attend.
What did Turkiye’s parliament decide on November 5?
It ratified the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement by 279 votes to 119, completing the last major step to bring the pact into effect.
When was the agreement signed?
It was signed on August 7, 2026, by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Is the pact directed against any country?
All three countries say the arrangement is defensive, aimed at regional stability, and not directed against any particular state.
