, LONDON [MENL] — Pakistan and Saudi Arabia plan to increase their defense cooperation.
Western diplomatic sources said the two countries will expand defense and military ties during the visit by Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on Saturday to Islamabad. The sources said Abdullah has relayed his agreement to a range of proposals to increase defense relations.
Simon Henderson, a leading analyst on Saudi Arabia, said Abdullah might have agreed to an arrangement in which Pakistan will introduce and supervise nuclear weapons in the kingdom. Henderson, a London-based associate of the Washington Institute, said Riyad has sought nuclear weapons to balance the emerging nuclear capability of Iran.
“Such an arrangement between Riyad and Islamabad could counter any future Iranian deployment of nuclear weapons,” Henderson said. “By this logic, a nuclear option in Saudi Arabia would fill the gap in the kingdom's security policy left by the departure of U.S. forces and the cooling of ties between Riyad and Washington.”
