The Central Asian country, which established formal ties with Israel in 1992, says being part of the deals is ‘natural’.More than 33 years after establishing official diplomatic ties with Israel, Kazakhstan says it will join the so-called Abraham Accords, which formalised ties between Israel and several Arab countries.The announcement came on Thursday ahead of a meeting between United States President Donald Trump and the leaders of Central Asian countries.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“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,” Kazakhstan’s government said in a statement, according to the AFP news agency.Earlier in the day, US envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff had announced that another country would join the normalisation deals without identifying it.“Abraham Accords are big. I’m flying back to Washington tonight because we’re going to announce, tonight, another country coming into the Abraham Accords,” Witkoff said.It is not clear how joining the accords will affect the already established Kazakh-Israeli ties. The countries established diplomatic relations in 1992, shortly after Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kazakhstan in 2016, and the two countries have several bilateral agreements.The announcement comes at a time when Trump is promoting himself as a peacemaker after brokering the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza, despite the daily deadly Israeli violence against Palestinians and the escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon.Kazakhstan appears to be pushing to deepen …
