Why did Kazakhstan join the Abraham Accords if Israel wasn’t the reason?
It’s all part of the ‘Great Game 2.0’, with Kazakhstan seeing the US as a hedge against China and Russia’s influence, analysts say
The accords, a series of agreements normalising relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority states, date back to 2020. But Kazakhstan and Israel established diplomatic ties in 1992.
“Given how much the Trump administration is determined to expand the scope of the Abraham Accords, this move on Kazakhstan’s part was a relatively easy way to score points with the White House,” Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Washington-based consultancy Gulf State Analytics, told This Week in Asia.
The decision was made “solely in the interests of Kazakhstan and is fully consistent with the nature of the republic’s balanced, constructive and peaceful foreign policy”, its foreign ministry said.