Despite having relations with Israel since 1992, Astana took this step upon input from Trump. The White House aims to revive Middle Eastern pacts and curb Moscow’s influence on Central Asia
New diplomatic success for Donald Trump. On Thursday, the American president announced that Kazakhstan will join the Abraham Accords. “I just had an important phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Kazakhstan is the first country in my second term to join the Abraham Accords, the first of many,” the White House resident said on Truth. “This is an important step forward in building bridges around the world,” he also said, before concluding: “Today, more and more nations are lining up to embrace peace and prosperity through my Abraham Accords.”
The position of Astana and the revival of the Abrahamic pacts
“Our planned accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course, based on dialogue, mutual respect and regional stability”, declared, for its part, the Kazakh government, which has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992. For this reason, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated that Astana’s accession to the Abraham Accords represents “a strengthened relationship, which goes beyond simple diplomatic relations and the presence of embassies in the respective capitals”. Some US officials also told the Times of Israel that the move by Kazakhstan, a country with a clear Muslim majority, is aimed at reviving the Abrahamic Pacts initiative: an initiative that had been partially overshadowed by the Gaza crisis. According to the Trump administration, the Kazakh turning point is therefore not just a symbolic turning point, but one with concrete geopolitical and diplomatic implications.
The precedent of Trump’s first term
Recall that, during his first term, the current American president had successfully brokered normalization agreements between Israel and some Arab countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Trump, after the agreement between Jerusalem and Hamas, now hopes that Saudi Arabia will also join the Abraham Accords. It is therefore mainly from this perspective that Astana’s move should be read. But that’s not all. In addition to the Kazakh president, the White House tenant also hosted the leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Washington on Thursday. On the occasion, Trump announced that he had strengthened US relations with Central Asian countries on relevant issues, such as security, trade and essential minerals. “We have strengthened the economic security of the United States by making agreements with allies and partners to expand our essential mineral supply chains,” he said.
The US strategy in Central Asia and Moscow’s nervousness
In short, it is quite clear that the American president is trying to strengthen Washington’s influence on Central Asia: a strategy that Moscow probably views with irritation. It is worth underlining that Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization: a security pact, promoted mainly by Russia. It is also interesting to note how Trump, in August, curbed Moscow’s influence on the South Caucasus by brokering a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The objective of the occupant of the White House is to put Moscow under pressure, to try to push it to soften its position on the Ukrainian issue.
