Obama lifts ban on Egypt aid: tanks, missiles and F-16 planes on the way
Middle East chaos continues and President Obama told Egypt’s leader Tuesday that he was ending a freeze on weapons shipments to the longtime U.S. ally, a moratorium on material support that began after a bloody military-backed coup there in 2013.
Obama told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in a phone call that he was lifting the holds on delivering F-16 fighter planes, Harpoon missiles and tank kits, and said he would ask Congress to continue an annual $1.3 billion in military assistance to Egypt.
The White House said the decision to resume the shipments of weapons was made in the interest of U.S. national security, though officials insist the timing isn’t related to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen.
Egypt has backed Saudi Arabia’s attack on the Shiite rebels.
In a statement, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the Obama administration has “made clear our commitment to simultaneously pursuing our security interests and our support for meaningful Egyptian political reform.”
While President Obama has been lumped in with the Muslim Brotherhood’s President Morsi by protesters, the White House has now spoken out to condemn the violence against Christians
“In this way, we will ensure that U.S. funding is being used to promote shared objectives in the region, including a secure and stable Egypt and the defeat of terrorist organizations,” said Meehan. “These measures put our assistance programs more in line with current core U.S. priorities.”
The Obama administration suspended its assistance to Egypt amid the army’s violent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, who rallied in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, the Arab nation’s first democratically elected leader.
The Obama administration refused to label the incident a coup, which would have required cutting all humanitarian aid.
Mohammed Morsi, Egyptian President supported by the Muslim Brotherhood photo/Forcalgeria via wikimedia commons
