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Exclusive: US, Egypt to Hold First Military Talks Since Revolt

US and Egyptian military leaders are preparing for the first formal cooperation talks since the last round was interrupted in January 2011 by the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that ultimately toppled the country’s dictatorship, reports Viola Gienger.
A soldier stands guard with his weapon at the main gate leading to the Saqqara or "Step" Pyramid, south of Cairo, September 20, 2012. Egypt's antiquities authority reopened the "Serapeum" and "Akhethotep & Ptahhotep" tombs near the Saqqara Pyramid on Thursday, after the ancient tombs had undergone ten years of renovations, with an estimated cost of 2 million dollars. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: TRAVEL SOCIETY)

WASHINGTON — US and Egyptian military leaders are preparing for the first formal cooperation talks since the last round was interrupted at the Pentagon in January 2011 by protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that ultimately toppled the country’s three-decade dictatorship.

The annual Egypt-US Military Cooperation Committee forum was cut short that January day, when the budding revolution prompted then-President Hosni Mubarak’s government to scramble the Egyptian delegation back to Cairo.

Official defense contacts have continued at the highest levels of both governments throughout the past 1½ years, sometimes filled with tension as the US side urged Egypt’s military leaders running the country to advance a democratic transition. Meantime, formal talks about the $1.3 billion in security aid the US provides Egypt each year were put on the back burner.

June’s election of President Mohammed Morsi and his quick replacement of the leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that had managed the transition have paved the way for re-establishing regular formal talks.

"Planning is ongoing for the resumption of the MCC, as early as this fall," Navy Cmdr. Scott McIlnay, a US military spokesman, confirmed to Al-Monitor. Egyptian officials said the talks likely would be scheduled for sometime after the Nov. 6 elections.

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