New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- US foreign policy analyst Scott Horton said the recently signed Saudi Arabia and Pakistan's Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement does not mark any major shift, noting that both countries have long shared a "de facto" alliance.

In an interview with ANI, Horton noted that speculation over Pakistan possibly providing a nuclear weapon to Saudi Arabia has existed for years, given that Pakistan is a nuclear-armed state "outside of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

"As far as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia announcing their deal, I think my understanding always was that they had a de facto alliance, if not an official one. There had always been a question of whether Pakistan would even furnish a nuclear weapon to Saudi Arabia....