Episode Notes:

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is one of the most consequential — and least understood — in the Greater Middle East. For decades, close economic and security cooperation have resulted in ties so intertwined they’ve been described as “brotherly.” However, the relationship now appears to be on thin ice after Pakistan’s foreign minister publicly criticized Saudi Arabia for not being more supportive of its position on Kashmir. Is this a temporary setback or a permanent rupture in Saudi-Pakistani ties?

Madiha Afzal — a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution and author of Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State —  joins the Warcast to discuss the Saudi-Pakistani relationship.

[ 01:07 ] What's behind the recent downturn in the bilateral relationship?

[ 04:55 ] What does Pakistan get out of its relationship with Saudi Arabia and what does Saudi Arabia get from its relationship with Pakistan?

[ 09:00 ] Is this a “bump in the road” or does the downturn suggest that elements of the partnership are weakening?