More than two months after the Mecca defence pact was signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, its full text is finally out.The full text was seen by Turkish and global media after Turkey on October 20 submitted the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement (MJDA) to its Parliament for ratification.At 16 articles, it is among the longest collective security texts in existence. Mainly, the text reaffirms the hypothesis that its mutual defence obligations are not NATO-like, that joint military capacity building in both peacetime and wartime is the principal objective, and that a web of Pakistan-linked military cooperation architectures now exists in West Asia.Mecca pact and the mutual defence questionThe MJDA addresses the mutual defence question early. In Article 1, all parties are committed to protecting each other’s “independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of their internationally recognised borders.”Reaffirming the ‘attack on one is an attack on all’ principle, Article 2 states, “If one of the Parties is subjected to an armed attack…by another country, the Parties shall immediately assist the attacked Party” with “all means of mutual assistance that they can provide to one another.” Note that this clause does not bind any party to the use of force in case of third-party aggression, and instead leaves the means of assistance open.This is unlike other such ‘attack on one is an attack on all’ treaties in force. For instance, the North Atlantic Treaty (1949) and Collective Security Treaty (1992) specify the right of member states to conduct an “armed attack”, and the “use of force” as a response to military attack. Even the Joint Defence Agreement of the Gulf Cooperation Council (2000) explicitly lists “military armed force” as a possible response by member states against aggression.The Mecca Agreement also does not lay out a hierarchy of wartime action. Hence, wartime assistance can be channeled through varying means such as expedited weapons deliveries, cross-placement of troops and platforms, intelligence and technology sharing, etc.Story continues below this adObjectively, such assistance does not need treaty commitments. France, Egypt, Italy and the UK (along with Pakistan) have anyway sent major military assets to Saudi Arabia with “defensive roles” against Houthi attacks. In fact, these states are addressing a core shortcoming in Riyadh — the Saudi Arabian National Guard (to protect the Royal Court) outnumbers the Royal Saudi Land Forces (to fight territorial wars) to ‘coup-proof’ the military in peace time, which necessitates more active troops for specialised roles during wartime.The capacity building focusThe Mecca Agreement uses Article 2 mainly as evidence of strong geopolitical alignment and redirects the agreement towards its main capacity building aim in Article 3 – “Pursuant to Article 2…the Parties shall cooperate closely in the fields of defence, defence industry, and security; develop relations among their Armed Forces; and carry out agreed activities aimed at strengthening cooperation in defence.”It is this Article that affirms the analytical claim made thus far, that both the Mecca Agreement and the Saudi-Pakistan defence pact are oriented more towards long term security sector cooperation, beyond wartime mutual defence commitments.In this light, the Mecca pact prominently dedicates seven Articles to joint capacity building — Article 4 commits parties to “regular consultations on international security matters” to develop common assessments, Article 5 strengthens efforts at the “operational level” to jointly combat terrorism, Article 6 encourages “reciprocal personnel exchanges among defence institutions, joint training programmes and exercises…aimed at increasing interoperability” in both “wartime and peacetime”, Article 9 promotes intelligence sharing, and Article 10 promotes logistical support in both wartime and peacetime.Story continues below this adMost importantly, Article 7 explicitly outlines the three member states’ intent to support “technology sharing among defence-industry institutions, joint technology development, joint production, and cooperation among defence-industry organisations” in defence production, joint research and development in specialised defence technologies, personnel training and military industrial support in the territories of each party, expertise and lessons sharing, and other “areas of cooperation mutually agreed upon”.The Pakistan-linked web in West AsiaThe Mecca pact is a concrete step to building a new regional security architecture in West Asia as the US protective umbrella shrinks. In this, Pakistan acts as the key bridging partner between Arab states, who have learnt new lessons in the Iran war, and military manufacturing heavyweights such as Turkey (and China in the background). The pact leaves room for more members to join the arrangement by referring to Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia as the “core parties” locked in the arrangement for 10 years.Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia have also signed their own military cooperation agreement on October 21.The creation of new architectures is one aspect, while their future success is another. However, what remains clear is that more states are willing to repose their faith in Pakistan/Turkey-linked military cooperative systems as the solution for core security gaps identified since 2023.