Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with the US House of Representative speaker Paul Ryan and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in Congress. The meeting came after the Egyptian leader met with his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, during which they committed to work closely on further combating radical Islamic organizations in the Middle East. The official state visit by President Sisi was the first since being elected in 2014, as Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, never extended an invitation. Obama, who at the time clearly supported the Egyptian leader of the Muslim brotherhood, ignored the fact that President Mohammad Morsi was seeking to widen his executive powers, and sought to secure his rule for many years to come.
After a military coup, during which President Sisi, then a general of the Egyptian military, overthrew President Morsi in mid-2013 after mass public protests, Obama froze aid to Egypt for some two years, an act that has shifted Cairo’s policy from Western reliance, seeking new partners in the East, including China and Russia. That said, since President Donald Trump has taken office, Egypt is once again seeking to bolster bilateral relations with Washington, as it needs American backing in efforts to combat an Islamic insurgency in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, a common interest of the United States and its closest ally in the Middle East, the state of Israel.