US President Donald Trump has called on Pakistan to join the Abraham Accords, positioning the expansion of the US-brokered normalisation agreements with Israel as an essential element of broader regional stability, including future arrangements involving Iran.
In recent statements, Trump emphasised that participation in the accords should be mandatory for key nations in any comprehensive Middle East deal. He highlighted several Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan, as potential members. Trump suggested that Saudi Arabia and Qatar sign promptly, while leaving open the possibility of Iran joining after reaching an understanding with Washington. He described the potential alliance as a pathway to significant financial, economic, and social growth that could strengthen the region.
Pakistan has firmly rejected the proposal, underscoring its longstanding policy that recognition of Israel is conditional on the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. Officials stated the country remains under no compulsion to alter its position. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif questioned Israel’s reliability, while Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar reaffirmed that Pakistan will not recognise Israel until an independent Palestinian state is created on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, represent normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab nations, facilitated by the United States. Named after the biblical patriarch Abraham, they promote cooperation across religious lines without requiring a prior resolution to the Palestinian issue. The agreements have enabled direct flights, trade, tourism, technology partnerships, and security collaboration, and have been seen by some as a counter to shared threats, particularly from Iran. Prior to these accords, only Egypt and Jordan among Arab nations had formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
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A notable complication for Pakistan lies in its passport policy. Pakistani passports explicitly state they are valid for all countries except Israel. Normalisation under the Abraham Accords would require removing this restriction to facilitate visas, trade, travel, and consular services. Without such a change, diplomatic relations would conflict with the document’s legal wording. Similar adjustments have been made by other nations, such as Bangladesh, during passport modernisation efforts.
For Islamabad, joining the accords would thus demand not only a major foreign policy shift but also practical updates to its national documentation system, highlighting the tension between symbolic stances and operational diplomatic requirements.