US President Donald Trump met with his Egyptian counterpart last night at the White House, during which he declared his Administration’s strong backing of President Sisi’s leadership.
“It is great to be with the President of Egypt. And I will tell you President al-Sisi has been somebody close to me since the first time I met him. I met during the campaign. And at that point there were two of us and we both met. And hopefully you liked me a lot more. It was very long, it was supposed to be just a quick brief meeting but we were with each other for a long period of time. We agree on so many things, I just to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sisi, he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.” / “Your excellency, allow me to extend my thanks and appreciation for your kind invitation for me to visit the United States. Actually, this is my first state visit to the United States since my inauguration in office. And as a matter of fact, this is the first visit in eight years from an Egyptian president to the United States,” said Trump.
During their joint meeting with the press, both leaders committed to work together in the fight against Islamic terrorism. “Your excellency, since we met last September, I’ve had a deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality, especially as you are standing very strong in the counter-terrorism field. To counter this evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives, that is bringing devastation to communities and nations, and that is terrorizing the innocent people.” / “We will do that together. We will fight terrorism and other things. And we’re going to be friends for a long, long period of time. We have a great bond with the people of Egypt. And I look forward to working with the president,” said Sisi.
The trip is be Sisi’s first White House visit since being elected president in 2014 as former US President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation. Sisi was elected a year after leading the military’s ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood’s president Mohamed Morsi after mass protests. Egypt has long been one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East, receiving 1.3 billion dollars in US military aid annually. The country is fighting an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, not far from the border with Israel, with hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police officers killed in operations against the Willayat Sinai organization, which is the Islamic State’s Branch in Egypt.