Special to WorldTribune.com

GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs staff in Islamabad

Saudi Arabia’s concern over the growing regional strategic dominance of Iran rose to unprecedented levels when the U.S. Barack Obama Administration abandoned support for the Saudi, Turkish, and Qatari plans to escalate the war against Iranian ally Syria in 2013.

Instead the White House began an initiative to seek a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement. Indeed, 2013 and early 2014 have seen Iranian strategic confidence reach a level not in evidence since the fall of the Shah in early 1979.

Saudi Arabia could no longer count on the support of the U.S. to intervene militarily on its behalf. The result has been the initiation of new Saudi campaigns — both open and discreet — to seek redress for the growing regional strategic imbalance.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud and a large Saudi delegation made a three-day visit to Pakistan on Feb. 15-17, meeting with President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and other senior officials.

The visit, which included the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign affairs, as well as the ministers of Economy and Planning, and Commerce and Industry, was seen as part of an initiative to ensure that Pakistan did not enter into a rapprochement with Iran, which was now emerging as the key cause for Saudi strategic concern. Pakistan’s Spearhead Research, in a special report on Feb. 18, noted:

Saudi Arabia does not figure in the U.S. push for a new Silk Road and the idea of a maritime silk route as part of the look East policy orientation. Besides support for urea and hydropower development projects Saudi interest will focus on defense cooperation. Pakistan’s JF-17 aircraft project and its Al Khalid tank project are very successful co-production ventures with China. China’s Z10 helicopter may be made available to Pakistan.

Pakistan maintained an armored brigade in Saudi Arabia for training purposes for over eight years in the ’eighties. The basis and prospects for Saudi-Pakistan defense cooperation, therefore exist and could be easily revived. The Saudi–Pakistan relationship was lukewarm during the previous government in Pakistan but the new political leadership has always had a soft corner for the Saudis for many reasons. Pakistan will, however, have to carefully consider its own interests in the present environment and decide how far it can go without negative fallout.”

Watch for Saudi Arabia to woo Pakistan with orders for defense equipment and other defense agreements. This time, however, Pakistan has greater leverage than it had in the past when it was forced to allow Saudi religious proselytization — the funding by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf emirates of religious schools and institutions — in Pakistan in exchange for Saudi money. That cost Pakistan dearly in terms of stability and led to the enormous flow of Saudi-backed funding for the Afghan Taliban movement (and the later Pakistan Taliban and related activity).

But this time, too, Pakistan would want Saudi oil and gas to replace the Iranian energy which the U.S. (and now Saudi Arabia) have been pressuring Islamabad to forego.

  Mamnoon Hussain, Nawaz Sharif, Prince Salman, Saudi Arabia again woos Pakistan as U.S. shifts strategic balance in Iran’s favor