Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations
Abstract
This report provides a brief overview of the key issues for Congress related to Egypt and information on U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. The United States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt since the late 1970s. U.S. policy makers have routinely justified aid to Egypt as an investment in regional stability, built primarily on long-running military cooperation and on sustaining the March 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Successive U.S. Administrations have viewed Egypt's government as generally influencing developments in the Middle East in line with U.S. interests. U.S. policy makers are now grappling with complex questions about the future of U.S.-Egypt relations, and these debates and events in Egypt are shaping consideration of appropriations and authorization legislation in the 112th Congress. For Obama Administration officials and the U.S. military, there is a clear desire to engage Morsi's new government on a host of issues, including immediate economic support and Sinai security. For others, opportunities for renewed diplomacy may be overshadowed by disruptive political trends that have been unleashed by the so-called Arab awakening and allowed for more expression of anti-Americanism, radical Islamist politics, antipathy toward Israel, and sectarianism, amongst others. The events of September 11, 2012, in which a visiting U.S. business delegation dispatched to Egypt to expand trade and investment were in Cairo while an angry mob attacked the U.S. Embassy, may be a harbinger of increased dissonance in U.S.- Egyptian bilateral relations for years to come.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 13, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA584632
Entities
People
- Jeremy M. Sharp
Organizations
- Library of Congress