The Gulf’s emerging web of security partnerships

The signing of the Badr Memorandum of Understanding by Pakistan, Türkiye, Qatar and Indonesia in Doha on Wednesday is the latest manifestation of Middle Eastern states accelerated efforts for diversifying their defense partnerships amid growing doubts about the reliability of existing security arrangements of the region led by the United States. But, rather than laying the foundations of a new regional security architecture, the proliferation of such agreements is producing a more fractured landscape in which countries are drawing in more partners, pursuing separate strategic interests and…