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What is Abraham Accords? Why does Trump want Pakistan to sign it? How has Pakistan responded? Why will it change the passport? News18 explains
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US President Donald Trump wants Pakistan to sign the Abraham Accords. But if it does, Pakistanis would require a completely redesigned passport.
Why? What is the document? Why does Trump want Pakistan to sign it? News18 explains.
What has Trump said
Trump declared that it should be “mandatory” for several major Muslim-majority nations to sign the Abraham Accords and normalise relations with Israel as part of an emerging peace agreement with Iran. In a series of statements and high-level phone calls, Trump tied the resolution of the regional conflict directly to a massive expansion of the historic diplomatic framework.
Trump posted on Truth Social that after all the effort the United States spent pulling a “very complex puzzle together,” it is now mandatory for involved regional countries to simultaneously sign the accords.
He explicitly named Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan as nations that must establish or formally solidify normalized diplomatic ties with Israel.
Trump stated that Saudi Arabia and Qatar must sign immediately. He warned that if any of these nations refuse, they “should not be part of this Deal” because it would demonstrate “bad intention”. Trump raised the possibility of Iran eventually joining the Abraham Accords once a final peace settlement with Washington is concluded, stating it would be “an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition”. He framed the expansion as a “Financial, Economic, and Social BOOM,” asserting that a fully signed coalition would make the Middle East “United, Powerful, and Economically Strong”.
How did Pakistan react?
Pakistan has strongly rejected Trump’s demand to join the Abraham Accords. The Pakistani government stated that it is “under no compulsion” to adhere to such requests and reiterated its unyielding, long-standing diplomatic opposition to recognizing Israel.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, explicitly stated that joining the accords would directly clash with the nation’s fundamental ideologies. He publicly questioned Israel’s credibility, asking, “How will you sit down with those people whose word cannot be trusted even for a single day?”
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar reaffirmed that there is zero change in Pakistan’s foreign policy. Pakistan maintains that it will absolutely not recognize Israel until a viable, sovereign Palestinian state is established based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
What is Abraham Accords?
The Abraham Accords are a series of United States-brokered agreements that established formal diplomatic and economic normalization between Israel and several Arab nations. Originally signed in 2020, they are named after the biblical figure Abraham to symbolize peace and shared heritage among Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The accords marked the first time an Arab country normalized relations with Israel since Jordan in 1994
- United Arab Emirates (UAE) & Bahrain: Signed the original declarations on September 15, 2020.
- Morocco: Established official ties shortly after, in December 2020.
- Sudan: Agreed to normalize relations in late 2020, though formal ratification was paused due to domestic instability.
- Kazakhstan: Formally joined the accords in November 2025.
Prior to these pacts, Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) were the only two Arab nations to formally recognize Israel. The Accords represented a historic geopolitical shift by establishing bilateral agreements on trade, security, technology, and direct flights, rather than conditioning peace on the resolution of the Palestinian issue.
Signatories agreed to open embassies, exchange ambassadors, and establish direct flights. The accords opened massive trade markets, technology partnerships, and tourism pipelines between Israel and the Arab world. The framework created an unofficial strategic alliance to counter shared security threats, primarily focused on Iran. In exchange for the initial UAE agreement, Israel agreed to temporarily suspend its plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
Why signing the document would mean new passports for Pakistanis
The current Pakistani passport explicitly bans travel to Israel.
Every booklet issued by Islamabad contains a strict, legally binding inscription printed directly on its third page: “This passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel”.
If Pakistan ever decided to sign the Abraham Accords—a US-brokered diplomatic framework built on normalizing geopolitical, economic, and tourist ties with Israel—it would render the existing passport text legally obsolete.
The overhaul that would be needed
For citizens to legally travel to, trade with, or work in Israel under the normalization treaty, the government would have to formally strike out the phrase “except Israel” from all newly printed passport designs.
This administrative change matches what other South Asian nations have faced. For example, when Bangladesh modernized its e-passports, it initially removed its “except Israel” clause to align with global standardized formats.
Normalized diplomatic ties mean establishing embassies or consulates. A passport that explicitly outlaws entry into a recognized partner country would create a direct legal and bureaucratic contradiction during visa processing.
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