Egypt and the United States formally began relations in 1922 after Egypt gained nominal independence from the United Kingdom. Relations between both countries have largely been dictated by regional issues in the Middle East such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Counterterrorism.
How Did The Suez Crisis Impact Egypt's Cold War Role? - Middle East Explorers
Early Relations and the Nasser Era
Initially, the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 did not alter relations with the United States, which continued to send foreign aid, with some claiming that the Nasser regime was initially backed by the United States modeled in the Project FF of the CIA. However, by 1956, the US was alarmed at the closer ties between Egypt and the Soviet Union and prepared the OMEGA Memorandum as a stick to reduce the regional power of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
When Egypt recognized Communist China, the US ended talks about funding the Aswan Dam, a high-prestige project desired by Egypt. The dam was later built by the Soviet Union.
The Suez Crisis
When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, the Suez Crisis erupted with Britain and France threatening war to retake control of the canal and depose Nasser. At the same time, the United States grew unwilling to support a foreign intervention against Egypt for fear of Soviet intervention. It also was opposed to European colonialism and worried that Western intervention in Egypt would weaken its authority to condemn the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
Israel invaded the Suez in October 1956, and Britain and France, in league with Israel, sent in troops to seize the canal. Using heavy diplomatic and economic pressure, the Eisenhower administration soon forced Britain and France to withdraw. The US delegation to the United Nations voted in favor of Security Council resolutions condemning the invasion and creating the United Nations Emergency Force.
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More significantly, the US threatened to sell its bonds and deny emergency International Monetary Fund assistance for oil shortages, which would cause a devaluation of the pound sterling that would have left Britain unable to import crucial goods. That American pressure led to a temporary warming of Egyptian relations with the United States, but President Dwight D.
French troops landing during the Suez Crisis
Strained Relations and the Six-Day War
Relations became strained again in the 1960s because Egypt purchased Soviet arms and refused to accept a US-brokered arms control agreement for the Arab-Israeli conflict, which led to the US selling M48A4 Mag'ach tanks and Douglas A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft to Israel in 1965. The arms sale escalated tensions further, with Egypt expelling the Emergency Force and closing the Straits of Tiran.
After US President Lyndon B. Johnson had failed to gain diplomatic support for an international naval operation to reopen the straits by force, he reluctantly decided to support a unilateral preemptive invasion by Israel. The Six-Day War ended with the Israel Defense Forces occupying most of the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, which Egypt had occupied.
The United States tried to negotiate a ceasefire to prevent a Soviet intervention and endorsed United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which encouraged Israel to return its occupied territories in exchange for peace agreements. However, Egypt accused the US of supporting Israel during the war.
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On June 8, 1967, Egypt severed diplomatic relations with the US and expelled Americans in Egypt.
The Sadat Era and the Camp David Accords
After the death of Nasser, his more moderate successor, Anwar Sadat, opened backchannel negotiations with the Nixon administration for a peace agreement with Israel, but they stalled because of Israel's unwillingness to withdraw the IDF from the eastern bank of the Suez Canal.
Confident that Egypt would not try to invade Israel, Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger delayed negotiations until after the 1972 United States presidential election and the 1973 Israeli legislative election. Instead, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise invasion of Israel starting the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and Egypt rejected a joint American-Soviet ceasefire proposal.
After the war, Egyptian foreign policy began to shift as a result of the change in Egypt's leadership from the fiery Nasser to the much more moderate Anwar Sadat (October 1970) and of the emerging peace process between Egypt and Israel. Sadat realized that reaching a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict was a precondition for Egyptian development. To achieve that goal, Sadat ventured to enhance relations with the US to foster a peace process with Israel.
After a seven-year hiatus, both countries re-established normal diplomatic relations on February 28, 1974. At the same time, the United States engaged in "shuttle diplomacy" to negotiate disengagement agreements between the Arab world and Israel.
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Sadat asked Moscow for help, and Washington responded by offering more favorable financial aid and technology for the Egyptian Army. The advantages for the US included Egypt's expulsion of 20,000 Soviet advisors and the reopening of the Suez Canal which were seen by Nixon as "an investment in peace."
Encouraged by Washington, Sadat opened negotiations with Israel that resulted most notably in the Camp David Accords, which were brokered by US President Jimmy Carter, and peace with Israel in a historic peace treaty in 1979.
Following the peace treaty with Israel, Egypt between 1979 and 2003 acquired about $19 billion in military aid, making it the second-largest non-NATO recipient of US military aid, after Israel. Egypt received about $30 billion in economic aid within the same time frame. Military cooperation between the US and Egypt is probably the strongest aspect of their strategic partnership.
General Anthony Zinni, the former Commandant of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), once said, "Egypt is the most important country in my area of responsibility because of the access it gives me to the region." Egypt was also described during the Clinton administration as the most prominent player in the Arab world and a key US ally in the Middle East.
The Mubarak Era and Beyond
Despite differences and periods of friction in relations between the countries, American-Egyptian relations under Mubarak had evolved to move beyond the Middle East peace process towards an independent bilateral friendship. However, Egyptian-American relations have lately become somewhat tenser.
That is to a great extent because of the Egyptians' unwillingness to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq in peace stabilization missions. Egypt strongly backed the US in its war against international terrorism after the September 11 attacks of 2001 but refused to send troops to Afghanistan during and after the war. The issue of participation in the postwar construction efforts in Iraq has been controversial in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.
During the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, top US government officials urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government to reform, refrain from using violence, and respect the rights of protesters such as those to peaceful assembly and association.
Nevertheless, on September 11, 2012, (the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks) Egyptian protesters stormed the US embassy in Cairo, tore down the American flag, and replaced it with a flag with Islamic symbols to mock the Americans after an anti-Islamic movie denigrating the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, was shot in the United States and released on the internet. Morsi refused to condemn the attack, instead calling on the United States to apologize for allowing the film to be posted.
In November 2012, Barack Obama, for the first time since Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel, declared that the United States does not consider Egypt's Islamist-led government as either an ally or an enemy.
Ties between the countries temporarily soured during the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, after a massive uprising against him. The Obama administration denounced Egyptian attempts to combat the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, canceled future military exercises, and halted the delivery of F-16 jet fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to the Egyptian Armed Forces.
Popular sentiment among secular Egyptians towards the United States has been negatively affected by conspiracy theories claiming that the Americans had assisted the unpopular Muslim Brotherhood in attaining power and by the Obama administration's policy of tolerance toward the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi.
Recent Developments
In February 2021, the US State Department announced a possible sale of missiles to Egypt worth $197 million. The sale was reportedly announced days after the Egyptian government had detained family members of a human rights activist having dual citizenship of the US and Egypt, Mohamed Soltan.
In January 2022, the Biden administration decided to reprogram $130 million in fiscal year 2020 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) by citing the country's failure to improve its human rights records. In September 2021, the US split the $300 million tranche of military aid pending the Egyptian government's fulfillment of human rights conditions.
Nearly 19 human rights organizations welcomed the decision intended for el-Sisi's government. However, at the same time, they denounced the Biden administration for authorizing $2.5 billion in arms sales to Egypt and obligating $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 FMF.
Egypt has an embassy in Washington, D.C.
| Period | US Aid to Egypt |
|---|---|
| 1979-2003 | $19 billion in military aid |
| 1979-2003 | $30 billion in economic aid |
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