Washington's unfocused decision on aid to Egypt

The Washington Institute said Washington's decision on August 22 to delay or cancel nearly dlrs 300 million in aid to Egypt caught Cairo by surprise. For many months, the Egyptian government had assumed that the warm rapport between US President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul Fattah El Sisi, was sufficient to ensure strong bilateral relations, including the continuation of US military aid after years of uncertainty under the previous administration.

The changes in aid, however, illustrate the complex bureaucratic and domestic politics underlying US policy toward Egypt, which the Trump administration failed to manage in this case, producing a confusing outcome that immediately conflicts with the administration's other priorities, according to The Washington Institute on Saturday.

The decision reflects institutional fights over three separate packages of aid to Egypt, two of which are being canceled.

However, the administration has acted to achieve more direct control over the third package, which entails 15 percent of the dlrs 1.3 billion in annual US military aid to Egypt, or dlrs 195 million.

Congress conditioned the disbursement of this aid on the secretary of state certifying that Egypt is taking effective steps toward advancing democracy and human rights, but the Trump administration waived this certification requirement on national security grounds, thereby keeping the aid available rather than letting it expire on September 30. But the administration has set new conditions on the use of that aid, to be enforced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which manages US military aid and must approve any Egyptian aid expenditure.

The conditions on the dls 195 million, however, are somewhat vague. Instead of offering concrete steps that Cairo must take to receive the aid, the administration has articulated three sets of concerns but failed to specify whether some or all must be satisfied.

Source : Mena