Perhaps the worried reaction of the Muslim Brotherhood to news that several Salafi leaders would go to the US on their first trip to Washington is an indication that the group senses a decline in its previously warm relations with the US. Members of the Brotherhood have accused Salafi leaders of trying to present themselves as a substitute for the group on the Washington visit. Although the visit was later postponed because most of the Salafi leaders who planned to go, including preacher Yasser Burhami, were denied US visas, the Brotherhood's reaction did not go unnoticed. According to Amr Abdel-Atti of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyasa Al-Dawliya journal and an expert on US affairs, the trip could have served several purposes. It had been presented as an exploratory visit to the US during which congressmen could listen to the Salafist groups and see how they would present themselves to Washington. “The idea of the visit was linked to US attempts to find an alternative to the Muslim Brotherhood. I am not saying that the US will transfer its support to the Salafist current, but it may consider it as an alternative. In the light of the protests and dissatisfaction among the people and opposition to the performance of the Brotherhood, it may have appeared to Washington that the Brotherhood is not going to remain in power for long,” Abdel-Atti told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Salafist current in Egypt is also part of a wider Salafist current in the Arab region, especially in Tunisia and Syria, he added. Mohsen Zahran, a political science professor at Alexandria University, agreed that by receiving the Salafis the US was trying to open doors and listen to different points of view. “Although it knows that the Salafist current is fanatical, Washington would like to listen to the Salafis and perhaps also use them for its own purposes,” he said. Salafi leaders also tried to defend the visit by saying that it was a “missionary” and not a political trip. Burhami said the visit has come in the wake of an invitation from two Islamic centres in the US, Al-Manhal and Al-Tawheed, which are led by Salafis. Commentators said that it would be natural for US politicians to meet Salafi representatives after the Salafist parties won nearly 25 per cent of the seats in the dissolved People's Assembly. The Salafist current was the second largest bloc in the dissolved parliament after the Brotherhood. Since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Egypt last year, US relations with the group have been based on mutual interests, provided that the regime honours the peace treaty signed with Israel. Egypt has remained a strategic US ally in the region. The US has also tried to take advantage of the presence of an Islamist president in Egypt to put pressure on the Palestinian groups, especially the Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas, in an attempt to provide more security for Israel. The relation was given a further boost when President Mohamed Morsi helped broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in November last year. Relations had been based on mutual interests until then, with main issues including Egypt's relationship with Israel, security in Sinai, and creating the conditions for the political stability necessary for the preservation of US interests in the Middle East. However, last November's constitutional declaration by President Morsi may have turned the tide in relations, according to Abdel-Atti. After the declaration, in which Morsi tried to place his decrees above the law, the Brotherhood started to adopt double standards. Morsi stopped mentioning Israel, the number of terrorist groups in Sinai increased, and the gap between Brotherhood discourse to the US and that directed to Egypt or the Arab world became larger, he said. “After the Boston bombings, the Brotherhood issued a statement in English denouncing the bombings, whereas other statements from group members in Arabic said the bombing was a conspiracy against Muslims,” Zahran said. This double standard was also obvious on the internal level, Zahran added, where the Brotherhood has said that it wants democracy, but its practices on the ground, together with the constitutional declaration, seem to indicate otherwise. There has also been a lack of transparency on the group's acts, and Egypt's apparent rapprochement with Iran may also have affected the group's relations with the US. The recent visit to Iran by presidential adviser on foreign affairs Essam Al-Haddad and Chief of Staff Mohamed Refaa Al-Tahtawi raised question marks among various political groups in Egypt, the Gulf and the US. A statement released by the presidency during the visit confirmed that the two officials had travelled to Iran and met with Iranian officials to “discuss ways of activating the quartet initiative”. This initiative was proposed by Morsi at an Islamic summit held in Mecca in August last year. Iran threw its support behind the initiative, joining Turkey and Saudi Arabia in completing the so-called quartet. However Saudi Arabia only attended one meeting. “If we can say that Egypt and the Brotherhood were initially enjoying a honeymoon, in the light of recent developments this has now ended. At present, the US has put the Egyptian regime under scrutiny or in focus or it is at the stage of wait and see,” Zahran said. He added that this would have an effect on Egypt in that it might not get the financial support it needs, explaining the delay in negotiations for the IMF loan. The US may also see Egypt as a country unlikely to spread stability in the Arab region. Egypt has been in negotiations with the IMF for a $4.8 billion low-interest credit facility that it is hoped will spark billions more.
