Tel Aviv/Washington: The US decision to dial back military aid to Egypt has roused fears among Washington’s regional allies that the US commitment to Middle East security is dropping on the list of America’s global priorities.
Obama administration officials said on Wednesday that in an effort to press Egypt’s military leaders to pursue a democratic transition they were postponing hundreds of millions of dollars in shipments of military equipment and directing $260 million (Dh954 million) in cash to aid programmes in the country rather than the government.
Senior administration officials said they were suspending shipments of unassembled tanks, Apache attack helicopters and Harpoon missiles. Previously, the US had said it would postpone the transfer of F-16 fighter planes to Egypt and cancel a joint military exercise.
The aid cut, following the US decision against military action in Syria, left some of Washington’s allies in the Middle East — including Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — frustrated with what they describe as America’s unwillingness to assert itself in the volatile region, according to Arab and Israeli officials.
In Israel, where officials are already concerned about a US thaw with Iran, US aid to Egypt is seen as necessary to retaining strong American influence with the Egyptian military and ensuring that Israeli-Egyptian peace stays on solid footing.
Cutting aid “can have dismal consequences, way beyond Egypt,” a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday. “It’s a sign to the whole Middle East that America is stepping back and is not interested anymore. It’s going to affect America’s position from Morocco to Saudi Arabia.”
US officials said they didn’t want to put US or Israeli security at risk by the cuts. “There will be no immediate diminution of Egypt’s ability to be a strong security partner to the United States,” said a senior Obama administration official.
Defence officials also emphasised that the aid would resume as Cairo moves toward a democratic transition.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has pursued the resolution of conflicts in the region, in particular Iran’s nuclear advances and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Yet the Egypt aid decision comes as Arab and Israeli officials say there is a growing fear that a Pentagon plan to strengthen American military assets in Asia is coming at the expense of their own regional security.
US officials have pointed out that the “rebalance” toward Asia, outlined in the Pentagon’s January 2012 strategic review, never included a downgrading of US assets in the Middle East.
Regional fears of a shift in the US military commitment to the Mideast were building for months. At regional security summits in Bahrain and in Israel fears of a downgraded American presence dominated public debates among senior defence officials and policy makers from countries in the region.
Some in the region fear America’s growing domestic oil and gas production and its decreased reliance on Gulf oil could mean America is less willing to intervene in the Mideast.
Arab and Israeli officials expressed concern that a resource that made the Gulf a vital US national interest for decades — President Jimmy Carter said in 1980 that the US would defend the region with force if necessary — is no longer looking quite so vital.
“One hears in the Middle East more and more voices which say America is no longer someone you can rely on, or someone who really counts in the Middle East,” said a diplomat from an Arab country closely allied with Washington.
Some energy analysts played down those fears. “The oil market is global, and no matter its provenance, oil price and availability are still intricately tied with events and availability elsewhere,” said Maria von der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency.
“The US and other major oil consumers will still have a great interest in maintaining security in the region decades from now.”
- Zaywa Dow Jones