{"id":112799,"date":"2025-09-26T18:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=112799"},"modified":"2025-09-26T18:56:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:56:28","slug":"qatar-incident-accelerated-pakistan-saudi-defence-talks-khawaja-asif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/","title":{"rendered":"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ISLAMABAD(National times)- Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that although the recent attack in Qatar was not the cause of the Pakistan-Saudi defence pact, it may have sped up the negotiation process. In an interview with an American journalist, Asif emphasized that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have shared a long-standing defence relationship. \u201cThis agreement is not a direct reaction to the Qatar incident,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s possible that the attack expedited the ongoing talks.\u201d He added that discussions on the defence agreement had been underway for quite some time. \u201cOur forces are already stationed in Saudi Arabia, and this deal now formalizes our defence ties through a structured agreement.\u201d Touching upon the global nuclear landscape, Asif remarked that since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear power favours the use of such weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dunyanews.tv\/en\/World\/908140-qatars-ruler-says-to-keep-efforts-to-broker-gaza-truce-despite-strike\">\u00a0Qatar&#8217;s ruler says to keep efforts to broker Gaza truce despite strike<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing Pakistan\u2019s political trajectory, the minister acknowledged flaws in the country&#8217;s democratic system but expressed confidence that it is steadily improving. The remarks come shortly after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During the visit, both leaders signed a strategic mutual defence agreement, which symbolises the two nations\u2019 shared commitment to peace and enhanced security. As per the agreement, any act of aggression against one country will be considered an attack against both\u2014underscoring the depth of their strategic partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National times)- Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that although the recent attack in Qatar was not the cause of the Pakistan-Saudi defence pact, it may have sped up the negotiation process. In an interview with an American journalist, Asif emphasized that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have shared a long-standing defence relationship. \u201cThis agreement is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National times)- Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that although the recent attack in Qatar was not the cause of the Pakistan-Saudi defence pact, it may have sped up the negotiation process. In an interview with an American journalist, Asif emphasized that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have shared a long-standing defence relationship. \u201cThis agreement is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-26T13:56:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-26T13:56:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-670x370-83.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/\",\"name\":\"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-670x370-83.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-26T13:56:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-26T13:56:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-670x370-83.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-670x370-83.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/112799\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Qatar incident accelerated Pakistan-Saudi defence talks: Khawaja Asif - Nation","og_description":"ISLAMABAD(National times)- Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that although the recent attack in Qatar was not the cause of the Pakistan-Saudi defence pact, it may have sped up the negotiation process. 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