What the United States has at stake in Egypt

Though it may be weeks before the outcome of the protests in Egypt is clear, the turmoil that erupted there raises an obvious question: If the $68 billion in aid the U.S. has sent to Egypt since 1948 is seen as an investment in political stability in the Middle East, has the investment benefited U.S. interests, or is it failing or perhaps even backfiring?

Under both Democratic and Republican presidents for the past 60 years the United States has sent economic and military aid to Egyptian governments.

In fiscal 2009, the United States spent about $1.5 billion on aid to Egypt, 86 percent of it military aid. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday that the U.S. aid package would be reviewed in light of how Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government responds to the unrest.

In a broadcast address to the nation on Friday night, Mubarak said he'd pursue reform of government and the economy, including replacing his entire Cabinet, but he portrayed the anti-government uprising as part of a plot to destabilize Egypt and topple his regime.

A short time later, President Barack Obama urged the Egyptian government to “refrain from any violence toward peaceful protestors” and to enter into discussions with citizens. The Egyptian people, he said in a televised statement from the White House, have "rights that are universal" — including the right to free speech and "the ability to determine their own destiny."
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The United States “has a close partnership with Egypt” but Obama said “we’ve also been clear that there must be reform — political, social and economic reforms — that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people.”

He said he'd spoken to Mubarak after the Egyptian leader addressed his people and told him he had a responsibility to “take concrete steps and actions” to fulfill his promises of democracy and economic opportunity.
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Since 1979, Egypt has been the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, after Israel, according to a 2009 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

Beginning in 1973, when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s diplomacy led to Egyptian-Israel accords and, eventually, to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Egypt has been central to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. The Cairo regime has remained a vital counterweight to Iran and a mediator with the Palestinian Hamas regime.

Did investment pay off?
Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt who now teaches at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, said the investment was worth it.

“We’ve gotten more than 30 years of very strong relations with the most important country in the Middle East — and that has taken a large investment from the United States. We’ve put in billions of dollars of military and economic assistance, but we’ve also gotten a very strong return on that investment: A peace treaty between with Egypt and Israel that has persisted and really never been violated during the course of 30-plus years, and an ally in a region that every American knows is unstable and potentially dangerous for us.”

He added, "It’s very rare to see this kind of a long-standing relationship persist between a superpower and a regional power."

But what if the protests ultimately lead to a new government in Cairo that resents American support for Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981?

That, Kurtzer said, is a hypothetical question. “I don’t even think we’re close to that,” he said.