Pakistan Surprised to Be Included in Saudi-Led Alliance It Never Heard Of

Officials in Pakistan said Wednesday that they had not been consulted by anyone in Saudi Arabia before their nation was described as a founding member of a new, 34-country “Islamic military alliance” to fight terrorism announced late Monday night by the Saudi defense minister.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Aizaz Chaudhry, told reporters in Islamabad that he had asked his ambassador in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to find out how the error was made. Dawn, the Pakistani daily, reported that another senior official confirmed to the newspaper that the announcement blindsided Pakistan’s government.