BY ARIF RAFIQ
APRIL 1, 2015
The former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal oncedescribed ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as “probably one of the closest relationships in the world between any two countries without any official treaty.”
The intimate friendship goes back decades. In 1969, Pakistani pilots flew Saudi jets to thwart Yemeni incursions into the kingdom. Islamabad and Riyadh closely coordinated support for the mujahideen in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s; and during that decade, Pakistan stationed upwards of 15,000 troops in the kingdom. Pakistani troops returned to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War to protect it from an Iraqi invasion. And Saudi Arabia reportedly donated oil supplies to Pakistan after Islamabad was hit by sanctions for conducting nuclear tests in 1998.
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