A KC-135 tanker from the Air Force Reserve's 336th Air Refueling Squadron refuels an Egyptian fighter aircraft during in-flight refueling training.

A KC-135 tanker from the Air Force Reserve's 336th Air Refueling Squadron refuels an Egyptian fighter aircraft during in-flight refueling training. U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Amy Abbott

White House Reversal Will Send Arms to Egypt

Obama sidelines his insistence on democratic reform, hoping to restart Washington-Cairo dialogue.

The White House reversed its hold on arms to Egypt on Tuesday in an attempt to grease a Washington-Cairo relationship that had largely ground to a halt.

In a phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President Barack Obama said he would release 12 F-16 fighter jets, 20 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and up to 125 M1A1 tanks for export to Egypt, lifting the hold that has been in place in 2013. The U.S. also will begin in fiscal 2018 to funnel U.S. security assistance to Egypt in four categories: counterterrorism, border security, Sinai security and maritime security, according to the White House. Beyond this support, Obama told al-Sisi he would continue to send to Congress his annual requests for $1.3 billion in military aid for Egypt.

What Obama will not do is insist on political reforms in Cairo as a condition for now allowing the long-planned exports.

The administration enacted the arms freeze in October 2013, four long months after the Egyptian military deposed the country’s elected president, Mohamed Morsi. The move was a belated attempt to send a message: there is a price to be paid for a military coup (though the White House was careful not to use the term). The hold was met with frustration by the new Egyptian government under al-Sisi, a former general who served as Morsi’s defense minister. Cairo consistently argues that the United States should be supporting al-Sisi and Egypt in the fight against terrorism.

The hubbub over the hold has drowned out subsequent attempts to resume a productive partnership between the two countries, and ultimately, Obama has decided to sacrifice his position to restart the relationship, said Tamara Cofman Wittes, who directs the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

“This is the epilogue to the sorry tale of how the U.S. responded to the coup,” she said. “Having swallowed this bitter pill, I hope they get something out of it.”

That “something” doesn’t mean Egypt’s ongoing contribution to the campaign by a coalition of Arab countries against Houthi rebels in Yemen, nor any particular help in any counterterrorism campaign conducted by the U.S., Wittes said. Rather, it would mean political reform in Egypt itself: increasing democratic representation, releasing political prisoners and allowing a polarized citizenry to come together, lest the country fall once again into chaos.

White House officials insisted Tuesday that democracy and human rights would remain part of the conversation.

“We will continue to engage with Egypt frankly and directly on its political trajectory and to raise human rights and political reform issues at the highest levels,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.