Not Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, but army chief: Donald Trump's Abraham Accords invite mentions Asim Munir

United States President Donald Trump on Monday called on more Arab and Muslim nations to sign on to the Abraham Accords, brokered during his first term in office and aimed at ‌normalising ties between those states and Israel.

However, while inviting countries to sign the accord, he may have inadvertently caused embarrassment for Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Trump's long post on Truth Social invited Saudi Arabia and Qatar to immediately sign the deal and asked Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey to follow suit, calling his ‌request mandatory.

Trump listed the names of premiers of all the countries he held discussions with over the issue. For Pakistan, however, he mentioned the country's Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, completely snubbing Sharif.

The post has once again sparked a debate over balance of power between Pakistan's military and constitutional office.

"During my discussions on Saturday with President Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, of The United Arab Emirates, Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, and Minister Ali al-Thawadi, of Qatar, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah, of Pakistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of Türkiye, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, of Egypt, King Abdullah II, of Jordan, and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, of Bahrain, I stated that, after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords," Trump wrote.

While all the countries were represented by their constitutional heads, Pakistan was represented by its military head in the post.

The episode mirrors Asim Munir taking the centre stage during Islamabad talks held in April this year, aimed at negotiating a potential resolution to the Iran, US-Israel war. Be it receiving foreign delegations or interacting directly with US Vice President JD Vance, Munir remained visible throughout the process, while Sharif appeared rather sidelined.

Pakistan's civil and military leaderships have been at odds with each other since independence. This explains the country's history of 30 years under direct military rule, spanning four distinct periods of martial law.

'...can't be trusted for a single day': Pak minister opposes joining Abraham Accords

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that he was not in favour of Islamabad joining the Abraham Accords to normalise relations with Israel.

"Personally, I don't think we should join any such accord which clashes with our fundamental ideologies," Asif said during an interview on a talk show with Samaa TV on Monday night.

Among the negotiators, the UAE and Bahrain are already members of the Accords, and Trump expects Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Jordan to sign up.

Pakistan's defence minister also talked about his country's long-standing position to not accept Israel until the Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital is established.

"We have a very clear stance that it is not acceptable to us," he said.

The minister also highlighted the question of credibility. "How will you sit with those people whose word cannot be trusted for even a single day?" he asked.

He also mentioned Pakistan's passport, which says it is not valid for travel to Israel.

(With PTI inputs)