The administration of US President Donald Trump intends to resume major military drills with Egypt, according to the head of the Central Command, amid concerns that the Middle Eastern country is tilting towards Russia.
“It is my goal to get that exercise back on track and try to re-establish that as another key part of our military relationship,” General Joseph Votel, who oversees the US military operations in the Middle east, told an Egyptian TV network as he visited Cairo on Sunday.
The short visit included meetings with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as well as Egypt’s military officials.
Upon an order by former US President Barack Obama in 2013, Washington halted major drills with Cairo and banned the sale of strategic weapons to the country to protest the government of el-Sisi’s heavy-handed crackdown of protesters.
Sisi rose to power in July 2013, after ousting former president Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected leader,…