CAIRO (Sputnik) — All terrorist groups should be opposed indiscriminately, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said while meeting with Commander of United States Central Command Joseph Votel on Monday.
"Egypt confronts states and other sides that support and finance terrorism. All the terrorist groups should be opposed without discrimination," al-Sisi said, as quoted by his office.
Votel, in his turn, noted the special role of Egypt in the region and reaffirmed the US commitments to strengthen strategic relations between the two states.
"He [Votel] reaffirmed the aspiration of his country to continue developing its partnership with Egypt and welcomed the resumption of the two countries' joint military exercise Bright Star," the Egyptian Presidential Office said in a statement.
In February, Votel said that the United States wanted to resume the large-scale military exercise with Egypt, suspended in 2013 by then-US President Barack Obama in protest of killing of civilians in the events related to the overthrow of then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Since the overthrow of Morsi the relations between Washington and Cairo have been tense. Washington then drastically limited its finance support for Egyptian authorities and canceled the deliveries of 10 Apache helicopters to Cairo. In April 2017, the US administration decided to resume full deliveries of arms to Egypt and to continue the allocation of its annual military aid to Egypt in the amount of $1.3 billion per year.
