US to ‘announce future’ of military aid to Egypt – White House

The US is not planning to halt “all” military aid to Egypt, the White House has said, refuting some recent media reports. However, in the coming days the US administration is planning to announce the future of its “assistance relationship with Egypt.”

The United States has decided to cut off military aid to Egypt, a US official told CNN earlier on condition of anonymity. The suspension of aid that will come in days was prompted by an"accumulation of events," the source added. 

Another source meanwhile told Reuters that the United States is "leaning toward withholding" most of military aid from Egypt except for the funds intended for counterterrorism actions and providing Sinai security.  

An announcement could be made later this week, a second US official told Reuters, noting however that the decision has been repeatedly postponed. The US Defense Department meanwhile refused to comment on the issue, telling Al Jazeera that "the Pentagon is not commenting tonight on press reports regarding aid to the Government of Egypt."

Weighing in on the matter the White House has refuted the reports of cutting off “all” military aid to Egypt. 

“The reports that we are halting all military assistance to Egypt are false,” US National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.“We will announce the future of our assistance relationship with Egypt in the coming days, but as the President made clear at UNGA, that assistance relationship will continue.”

Independent sources so far have neither confirmed nor denied the news. Reuters’ foreign policy and national security reporter Patricia Zengerle tweeted that the White House has “nothing new to announce” on the issue. 

The decision has been made three months after the July military coup against Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and the turmoil that removed the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Egypt.  

Thus far the United States has not officially recognized the July event as a coup, keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt intact.

Egypt currently receives $1.5 billion in US aid annually - $1.3 billion of which is designated for the military.

In August, the US administration quietly suspended most military aid and some forms of economic aid, stating that “no final decisions have been made” but refusing to release the $585 million payment due to Egypt.

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