After weeks of speculation the US administration has embraced greater engagement with Egypt's Islamists, writes Ezzat Ibrahim The success in the first round of parliamentary elections of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Salafist Nour Party, has opened a new chapter in American-Egyptian relations. It would, however, be a mistake to assume the shift in US policy happened overnight. In the months that followed the 25 January Revolution senior American officials were already struggling to articulate a new Middle East policy in response to the radical transformations on the ground. The main stumbling bloc was how to approach the Islamists. According to a senior American official, US policymakers had taken Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) seriously when it claimed Islamists would not get more than 25 per cent of parliamentary seats. Indeed, with public opinion surveys failing to indicate Nour's popularity, the hardline Salafis were not even on Washington's radar. Following early results in the first round US policymakers were forced onto the offensive, making diplomatic approaches to the FJP and other parties. The recent visit of Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a close adviser of the president, to the FJP's headquarters was the final nail in the coffin of any US policy of let's wait and see. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffery Feltman is touring "Arab Spring" countries and Israel in an attempt to reinvigorate Washington's diplomacy. The rise of Islamists in North Africa places the US in a political dilemma since opening dialogue with them could irk some of Washington's traditional allies in the Arab Gulf. The administration will, too, want first to test the Islamists' commitment to democracy before making any dramatic moves. Danniel Byman, researcher director at the Brookings Institute's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, the "US may end up with the worst of both worlds: scorned by the forces of democracy because of its ties to dictators, but disdained by dictators -- whose cooperation is vital to US economic and security interests -- for reaching out to democrats." Institutionally, US policymaking towards Egypt is divided between more than one agency. Following the appointment of Leon Panetta as defense secretary the Defense Department has been coordinating most Egyptian-American files, in cooperation with the State Department and the White House via the National Security Council. Panetta has a long working relationship with Egypt's Armed Forces, especially when he served as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. In a speech to the Saban Forum in Washington DC following the election's first round, Panetta said "Egypt will require great leadership in the weeks and months ahead if it is to successfully transition to a fully civilian-controlled government that respects democratic principles and maintains all of its international commitments, including the peace treaty with Israel." The Islamists' victory in the first round has underscored the necessity of shifting American policy to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest bloc in Egyptian politics today. Last week in Cairo Senator Kerry received assurances that the FJP will respect Egypt's international treaties and commitments. The US shift towards greater engagement with the Islamists reflects entrenched worries in Israel, and among its allies in the States, that they might adopt policies hostile to Tel Aviv and instigate public opinion against Israel. This sort of "populism" is Israel's major concern in the long-term and Washington agrees that taming Egypt's Islamists is an urgent priority. "Meeting only with secular Egyptian leaders such as presidential candidates Mohamed El-Baradei and Amr Moussa yields very little political profit for the US and results in a net loss of remaining credibility for Egypt's secularists. By meeting with Islamists, the US ensures political gains for the short to medium term," Ed Hussein, a foreign relations expert, wrote last Sunday. He noted four major benefits from Kerry's meeting with FJP leaders: first, the emphasis on Egypt's economic regeneration will be of vital importance to ordinary people in Egypt; second, MB leaders renewed their commitment to maintaining Egypt's international treaties, an indication that they are not in the business of nullifying the Camp David Accords; third, the meeting and further collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood demolishes the Al-Qaeda narrative and Iranian propaganda that the United States is at war with Islam and fourth, while the Muslim Brotherhood is on an intellectual and political journey it is a healthy sign that they, and other Islamists, are meeting US leaders in public. Ten months since Mubarak's ouster and it is clear the US administration is working hard to secure American national interests through a raft of pragmatic policies that take the facts on the ground and the real strength of post- revolutionary political forces into consideration.
