Kazakhstan has agreed to join the Abraham Accords, a largely symbolic step announced Thursday intended to bolster the initiative that was a signature foreign-policy achievement of Donald Trump’s first term.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe plans not yet publicly revealed, confirmed Kazakhstan’s participation. The country has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, shortly after Kazakhstan gained independence following the Soviet Union’s collapse, so normalization itself is not new.
The Abraham Accords were originally signed by Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates; those countries formalized ties with Israel as part of the agreement. Kazakhstan is geographically much farther from Israel than those states, and its inclusion is being presented largely as a symbolic reaffirmation and an effort to expand the accords’ reach.
Former President Trump posted about the step on his social media account, saying he had hosted a call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and calling Kazakhstan the “first Country of my Second Term to join the Abraham Accords.” He described the move as “a major step forward in building bridges across the World” and said other nations were lining up to join.
Administration officials said a signing ceremony would formalize Kazakhstan’s accession. They argued the announcement matters because it could deepen bilateral trade and cooperation with Israel and signal that Israel is becoming less isolated internationally amid widespread criticism and protests over its conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza.
One U.S. official said Trump’s early diplomatic push on Gaza had “completely changed the paradigm” and encouraged more countries to “move toward the circle of peace” the accords aim to create. Officials cited potential areas for expanded Israeli–Kazakh cooperation including defense, cybersecurity, energy and food technologies, though many of those topics have been covered in prior bilateral agreements dating back to the mid-1990s.
The announcement came shortly before a summit that Trump hosted with the leaders of the five Central Asian nations, including Kazakhstan. Ahead of that meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a working breakfast with President Tokayev. The State Department’s public statement about that meeting made no mention of Israel, instead noting discussions about expanding commercial trade and investment and increasing cooperation with Kazakhstan in energy, technology and infrastructure.
Kazakhstan’s accession to the Abraham Accords is presented by its backers as a diplomatic and economic boost for Israel and for the accords themselves, while critics may view the move as primarily symbolic given the long-standing ties between the two countries.