WASHINGTON: Kazakhstan said Thursday it expects to join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in a largely symbolic move aimed at boosting US President Donald Trump’s push for Middle East peace.
The central Asian republic has had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades, unlike the four Arab states that normalized relations with Israel under the original accords signed in Trump’s first term.
But with Trump aiming to shore up his fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, Washington is pushing to get as much support as possible behind a wider peace initiative.
The announcement that Kazakhstan will join is expected to come when Trump hosts Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the leaders of the other four central Asian republics at the White House later Thursday, a US official said.
Kazakhstan said Thursday it was “natural and logical” for it to join.
“Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability,” the country’s government said in a statement.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier that a new country would join the accords, sparking speculations.
“I’m flying back to Washington tonight because we’re going to announce, tonight, another country coming into the Abraham Accords,” Witkoff said at the America Business Forum in Miami.
Kazkahstan will be the first country to join since the original Abraham Accords in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized ties with Israel.
Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords as Trump pushes Mideast peace
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Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords as Trump pushes Mideast peace
- The central Asian republic has had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades
- Kazakhstan said Thursday it was “natural and logical” for it to join
Australia hits Afghan Taliban officials with sanctions, travel bans
- The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom
- The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said
SYDNEY: Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-run country.
Australia was one of several nations which in August 2021 pulled troops out of Afghanistan, after being part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted the Islamist militants from power.
The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, has been criticized for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls through bans on education and work.
The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom.
Wong said in a statement the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting access for girls and women “to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life.”
The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said.
Australia took in thousands of evacuees, mostly women and children, from Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in the war-shattered South Asian country, where much of the population now relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
