Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
The trip has coincided with a new flare-up in India-Pakistan tensions, making Riyadh’s balancing act between regional rivals trickier than ever.
Saudi Arabia’s effective leader, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, this week is visiting Asia, and what a trip it is turning out to be. His late arrival in Pakistan, and intended next stop in India, were overshadowed by a terrorist attack in Kashmir in which 44 Indian paramilitaries died. Pakistan displayed injured innocence to India’s accusations of Pakistani involvement, but New Delhi is considering a military response. In the meantime, India increased tariffs on Pakistani goods by 200 percent and Islamabad on Monday withdrew its ambassador “for consultations.” We are not talking a nuclear exchange between the two South Asian giants—at least, not yet...
