Prospects for US-Egypt Strategic Dialogue: Op-ed

Yesterday, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, flew to Washington for convening a new round of the U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

This round of Egyptian-American talks is not only the first to be convened under the Biden Administration but also the first since the eruption of the Arab Spring revolutions, a decade ago.

“Egypt is a vital partner for the United States. We are committed to strengthening the forty-year U.S.-Egypt partnership by enhancing security cooperation, advancing human rights, and growing our significant economic relations and cultural ties;” noted the State Department’s press release.

According to the official statement by the U.S. State Department about the meeting, Shoukry is expected to meet with senior officials from USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense who will be accompanying Secretary Blinken. That could be a good opportunity to discuss the defective approach of using the US military aid package to Egypt as a tool to pressure for human rights improvements. Two months ago, the US threatened that it will cut a portion of the military aid until the Egyptian state releases a number of prisoners, whom Senator Ted Cruz found later that they are members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The scope of the US-Egypt Strategic dialogue, which started more than two decades ago, is broader than the immediate political, security, economic, and cultural aspects of the forty years-old bilateral relationship between Egypt and the United States. Former episodes of this strategic dialogue used to define the agenda for the regions of interest to the United States, wherein Egypt enjoys a political or economic influence; namely, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the eastern Mediterranean, and the eastern Africa regions.

This time, the strategic dialogue between Egypt and the United States is happening at heated times for all the aforementioned regions. The Middle East, especially the Gulf and the Levant regions, is hardly recovering from the consequences of the extremely chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which added volumes to the region’s existing sufferings with political instability and terrorism. Likewise, the eastern Africa region is boiling with civil wars that provided a fertile soil for terrorist organizations and tribal militia. Even, the eastern Mediterranean basin has been shaking under a series of regional conflicts that are redefining the geopolitical future and the geo-economic balance of the region. Fortunately, Egypt has a crucial role to play in controlling the courses and outcomes of these conflicts.

Nevertheless, the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not the top priority item on the agenda of the U.S.-Egypt strategic dialogue, anymore. That is despite the fact that the Israel-Palestinian conflict was the main reason that pushed the Clinton Administration to initiate the strategic dialogue with Egypt, in 1998. Ironically, the Israel-Palestinian conflict has also been the reason why the Biden Administration decided to be more friendly with El-Sisi leadership, despite initial cautions and hesitations. Egypt’s sole-handed success in controlling the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel, this summer, forced the American leadership to seriously look at the new Egypt, as an indispensable regional partner.

The resumption of extended talks between Cairo and Washington, after such a long pause, is, in itself, a reason to make us optimistic about the conclusions of the meeting. However, this should not make us ignore the critical points of disagreement, on bilateral and regional agendas, between Biden and El-Sisi’s perspectives that may hinder any positive results of these or any talks. Such conflicting views towards domestic and regional issues need to be appropriately resolved to ensure the success of the strategic dialogue in having a geographically wider and time-wise longer effect.

That includes the pergent views on the Muslim Brotherhood, who are deceitly posing as Egyptian opposition or human rights defenders in the U.S., as well as the U.S. Administration’s indifference towards the Nile River conflict, which represents a critical threat to international peace and security. Both issues are matters of concern for Egypt and its regional milieu, and so they should be for the United States; Egypt’s most important ally and strategic partner.